Gambian government demands ‘transparent’ probe after US police shoot dead diplomat’s son amid George Floyd protests
Momodou Lamin Sisay was shot dead by police just days after the killing of George Floyd
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Your support makes all the difference.Gambia has demanded a “transparent, credible and objective” investigation after one of its citizens was shot dead by US police.
Momodou Lamin Sisay, son of diplomat Lare Sisay, was shot following a car chase in Snellville, Georgia shortly before 4am on 29 May, according to a police statement.
Officers said they had attempted to pull Mr Sisay over for a driving offence. The 39-year-old refused to stop, according to the police, and a chase ensued thereafter.
When the car eventually stopped, police approached and told Sisay to show his hands. He did not comply and pointed a handgun at officers. Officers fired at the driver before pulling back to take cover, investigators said.
A Swat team was then dispatched and “during the standoff, the driver pointed his weapon and fired at the Swat officers. One GCPD Swat officer fired his weapon”, they added.
Sisay was pronounced dead at the scene.
Lare Sisay, who has also worked for the United Nations, claimed that police had not done enough to peacefully resolve the incident.
He also told Gambian media that he disputed his son had been carrying a gun.
“We will do an independent autopsy and we want to get a private investigator to investigate the circumstances of his death and if necessary hire a lawyer to sue the Georgia state police.
“We’re not going to let it go,” The Point newspaper quotes him as saying.
Gambia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday requested that its embassy in Washington DC engaged the revelant authorities – including the State Department – to begin an invesigation.
Sisay’s death came just days after the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Mr Floyd died by asphyxiation after a white police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes, an event that has set off the biggest anti-racism protests seen in the United States since the 1960s civil rights era.
Protests have taken to the streets across the world to protest against the killing, with Sisay’s name used in social media posts this week supporting the campaign against US police brutality against black people.
Four Minneapolis police officers have now been charged with a number of offences in connection with Floyd’s death.
Derek Chauvin, the sacked officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, has been charged with second-degree murder after initial charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter, according to court documents.
Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao have also been taken into custody and each charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder, and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.
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