Melbourne coppers kill 15 y boy
rix dorf | 12.12.2008 12:00
Australian police kill Tyler Cassidy of Melbourne Thursday night. Several officers fired at him, hitting him in the chest. He died at the scene.
Police in the southern Australian city of Melbourne fatally shot a 15-year-old boy in a skate park after officers said he threatened them with knives.
The written statement released by Tyler Cassidy's family this afternoon
The entire family and friends of Tyler Cassidy are appalled at the actions by the Victoria Police last night. Their heavy-handedness, and lack of negotiating skills at the scene of the shooting, contributed to the untimely death of our beautiful 15 year old. He was in the prime of his life, had just started a new school, and was coping really well. He was a popular student with high expectations and a good network of friends.
The Northcote police were notified 30 minutes prior to the killing and briefed completely on what had happened including what he was wearing and to look out for Tyler.
The four officers concerned acted unacceptably by killing Tyler last night. He had a very gentle side, striving to grow from a boy into a young man and would have been completely overwhelmed by the situation.
The police according to our witnesses chased him, cornered him at the skate park in Northcote, he was surrounded and gunned down by four officers firing at least six or seven shots.
Our eyewitness confirmed that Tyler patted her dog, was confronted by the police and sprayed with capsicum foam, then pursued to the skate park, surrounded and hunted down.
We look forward to a serious and thorough investigation and inquest into why Tyler was killed and to the serious nature of the attending officers' actions.
It should have been dealt with differently and more compassionately, but tragically resulted in Tyler's death that should have been avoided.
"I promise you my darling, I will fight for you as you were taken from me under the most horrific circumstances.
"Why was he slayed to death when it was so unnecessary. Four officers were not capable of managing the situation.
"Now you have passed over I will speak for you and others like you," Shani, Tyler's mother
This is a released statement on behalf of his loving family and friends. He died alone without his family at his side, gasping his last breath, he was only a scared little boy... Rest in Peace.
12/12/2008
The written statement released by Tyler Cassidy's family this afternoon
The entire family and friends of Tyler Cassidy are appalled at the actions by the Victoria Police last night. Their heavy-handedness, and lack of negotiating skills at the scene of the shooting, contributed to the untimely death of our beautiful 15 year old. He was in the prime of his life, had just started a new school, and was coping really well. He was a popular student with high expectations and a good network of friends.
The Northcote police were notified 30 minutes prior to the killing and briefed completely on what had happened including what he was wearing and to look out for Tyler.
The four officers concerned acted unacceptably by killing Tyler last night. He had a very gentle side, striving to grow from a boy into a young man and would have been completely overwhelmed by the situation.
The police according to our witnesses chased him, cornered him at the skate park in Northcote, he was surrounded and gunned down by four officers firing at least six or seven shots.
Our eyewitness confirmed that Tyler patted her dog, was confronted by the police and sprayed with capsicum foam, then pursued to the skate park, surrounded and hunted down.
We look forward to a serious and thorough investigation and inquest into why Tyler was killed and to the serious nature of the attending officers' actions.
It should have been dealt with differently and more compassionately, but tragically resulted in Tyler's death that should have been avoided.
"I promise you my darling, I will fight for you as you were taken from me under the most horrific circumstances.
"Why was he slayed to death when it was so unnecessary. Four officers were not capable of managing the situation.
"Now you have passed over I will speak for you and others like you," Shani, Tyler's mother
This is a released statement on behalf of his loving family and friends. He died alone without his family at his side, gasping his last breath, he was only a scared little boy... Rest in Peace.
12/12/2008
rix dorf
Comments
Hide the following 13 comments
source?
12.12.2008 12:33
..
One source
12.12.2008 12:44
This report says the kid is a white-supremacist.
Tragic all around
@
comparison
12.12.2008 12:48
Krop
The kid
12.12.2008 12:55
"This is about how we walk down the main street in any town, or city in Australia and see more foreign flags than we do Aussie, hear more foreign languages than we do English, in all honesty it's about the fact that we as true Australians are becoming the minority in OUR own country!" its website says.
Apart from the idoicy of white immigrants "claiming" that its their country - how fucking stoopid! - the fact remains that the kid died NOT because he was a white supremacists but because of the authoritarian nature of the police! That kid could have easily changed his views (like so many do) when they come into contact with people from other backgrounds - I know quite a few people who were ultra racists in their early youth but are now committed anarchists and anti-fascists.
The issue is not his politics but the police - I would say though that the response, if any, will be from his "comrades".
anarchist
hm?
12.12.2008 13:09
Or should we applaud it coze it´s one nazi less to fight?
I mean, look at the reaction of bigots on Alexis Grigouropoulos vids on youtube. Their comments go like: good they got rid of that Anarchist scum boy.
rix dorf
other options
12.12.2008 13:21
Saying that, melbourne always felt so safe to walk around at night which says a lot about the UK. Unfortunately, every policeman has a gun including that big fat ones that look like they've had no training.
Its difficult to know what 'really' happened from the reports. Some mention that the kid was beserk and lashing with knives threatening to kill them. If that is what happened, only a complete imbecile would try using a knife to kill people who are carrying guns. As they say, never bring a knife to a gun fight because the result is always going to be a form of darwin's natural selection.
I can't see why a group of police couldn't of used their batons to strike the kid down if he was striking out wildly with a knife. Worse case, they should be armed with tasers or other non-lethal options rather than firearms for such a high knife crime area.
jeb
anarchist?
12.12.2008 15:03
1. this guy wasn't an immigrant, sounds like he was born there. His great-grandparents (or so) must have been immigrants, of course. So are you saying that he's still an immigrant, and by implication all whites in Australia should be considered immigrants?
2. anyway, how can an anarchist think that being an immigrant or native born determines whether you should be allowed to consider a country as "yours"? I live in what some call the Basque Country, and there are plenty of people here (who call themselves "left wing" in many cases) who would like to make sure I can't consider it "my" country unless I achieve fluency in a very difficult minority language (Euskara) that isn't even widely spoken in the city where I live. That's idiotic but at least it's something over which I have some control. But your place of birth is something over which you have no control whatever.
"Anarchist", I reckon you need to revise your thinking.
However, I reckon you're right about the show of solidarity being mainly from his "comrades". Which should give pause for thought. It would be a pretty good opportunity to show that anarchists have higher standards for solidarity than racists.
emigre
Just a kid
12.12.2008 15:17
anon
his actions, not his beliefs
12.12.2008 16:25
The point of fact was he was trying to kill people with knives (alledgedly)
They always paint a 'nice little boy' picture. If he was carrying knives (more than one), hes probably not a very nice kid. He is most likely a complete scumbag who is capable of causing another kid serious injury or death.
If he was threatening to kill the police with the knives and slashing away then he is probably completely deranged or just totally lost control. This could of been caused by a panic to the pepper spray, especially if he had the added paranoia of smoking dope all day or something.
There is no 'good' or 'bad' nationality or beliefs in this situation. At that particular moment - he's a kid trying to kill people. The police had to bring the siuation under control. I'm just surprised they didn't have other methods rather than shooting him.
But, ultimately, it sounds like the kids fault. The police don't carry guns for decoration.
You jump off a cliff - you die. If you try to kill people who have got guns - then theres a good chance they will shoot you.
jeb
No excuse for killing him
14.12.2008 13:43
anon
taking responsibility
15.12.2008 14:31
Basically its the kids dumb decision. He is responsible for his own actions. If he killed a policeman and got away, he would have been the first to pat himself on the back for his daring choice. A lot of killers probably regret it later, but its a bit late to be saying you regret killing someone after you have just stabbed them.
I bet shooting someone in the leg when they are darting about is not easy and even if you manage to hit them, you may not disable them effectively. It isn't like films. Generally speaking its people's own dumbness that is responsible for their misfortunes.Its like these joy riders. They choose to steal cars, drive 80+mph and drive into a tree.
Jeb
How very sensitive..
15.12.2008 21:04
anon
sensitive? why?
16.12.2008 22:08
Jeb