FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Protest Planned in Response to police murder of Mario
Madrigal Jr.
On Monday, September 8 at
There are many questions surrounding the death of Mario
Madrigal Jr. We believe that he did not
have to die that night. There are
questions about whether the police officers were really in danger enough to
shoot at him and whether a taser had been used on him
and made him fall to the ground before he was shot.
The essential role of the police is to deliver suspects and
evidence to a judge or jury, not to take away lives themselves. Any crime that Mario Jr. may have committed
was not punishable by death. Some people
suspect the shooters were motivated by prejudice against youth or a racial
prejudice.
Participants of the protest come from different perspectives
and will have varying demands. People at
the protest will demand one or more of the following: justice for Mario
Madrigal Jr. and his family, the truth to come out about what really happened,
punishment of the police officers who killed Mario, creation of a citizen
review board for Mesa, reform of the use-of-force policy for local police
departments, the end of shoot-to-kill, removal of killer cops from the force,
training of police to end racism and prejudice against youth within the force,
removal of racist police from the force, and end to police brutality and
shootings, the end of the role and authority of police.
The group who organized this second protest, People United Against Police, want to keep the ball rolling after the
protest that was organized and attended by family and friends of Mario Madrigal
Jr. Members of the group are experienced
in working for social justice and against police brutality, amongst other
causes, and were involved in the vigil that was held when charges against the
murderer of Dawn Rae Nelson were dropped back in May. The group was motivated to hold another
protest because these unnecessary tragedies keep happening.
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