Yet Another Young Black Man Killed by Police in Houston Area
December 29, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Carlton Wayne Smith with his mother, Kathey Kelley, two days before he was killed by a cop in Texas City on December 26.
Carlton Wayne (Chimmy) Smith, 20 years old, was shot and killed outside a nightclub in Texas City, south of Houston, in the early morning hours of December 26. Smith and others had been at a Christmas night party at the nightclub.
Police claimed Carlton Smith had a gun and was shooting at people leaving the lounge, then pointed the gun at police who arrived. Various witnesses at the scene dispute that. Several people said, according to the Galveston County Daily News, that “Smith had taken the gun away from another person, who had been shooting into the air, and was holding it with no ill intent.” Others said that “he may have been holding the gun, but there was another woman who shot in the air to break up the fighting” (there had reportedly been a scuffle inside and outside the nightclub).
What is certain is that moments after police arrived at the scene, a cop shot and killed Carlton Smith. Some witnesses said Carlton Smith was shot in the back, not (as police allege) as he faced a cop and pointed a gun at him. A report on a Corpus Christi TV station said that a nurse on the scene was prevented from assisting Carlton as he lay bleeding to death on the pavement. Smith’s mother, Kathey Kelley, told the Galveston County Daily News that she learned about what happened to her son from her sister, and that the police would not even let her identify the body.
The Galveston News reported that many people in the crowd of more than 100 “threw rocks and bottles at police officers after the shooting.”
This latest killing by police comes just a few days after a grand jury decision not to indict a Houston cop who murdered unarmed Jordan Baker in January 2014 (see “Houston: OUTRAGE! Another Murdering Pig Walks Free!“) Carlton Wayne Smith is another victim of the plague of murder by cop that is stalking Black and Latino youth—a plague that must stop!
Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution
If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.