Source: General / Radio One
The police shooting of a woman in Texas this past weekend is “reminiscent” of the shooting of Breonna Taylor, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in announcing he is representing the victim of law enforcement violence.
Deputies from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office shot Eboni Pouncy early Saturday morning while she was inside her friend’s home – this much everybody can agree on. But the police narrative surrounding the shooting differs wildly from how Crump described the series of events that led to Pouncy being shot.
Crump said in a press release emailed to NewsOne that Pouncy and her friend were locked out of her friend’s home in an apartment complex. The two women then broke a window to the apartment to gain entry, according to Crump’s press release.
When the Harris County Sheriff’s pounded on the Pouncy’s friend’s door, “Pouncy retrieved her legally-registered firearm” out of fear of a possible intruder, the press release said. “Shortly after, officers opened fire and struck Pouncy with five bullets.”
According to a press release disseminated by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, though, they were contacted by a neighbor who reported a possible break-in within the same apartment complex. When deputies responded to the location and determined there was no burglary, a different neighbor “flagged the deputies down and reported that someone had broken into another nearby apartment,” the police press release says.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said deputies “knocked” on the front door of Pouncy’s friend’s apartment after noticing a broken window.
“Deputies could see into the apartment through the broken window. One deputy saw a female approaching the door holding a firearm,” the Harris County Sheriff’s Office press release said. “Two deputies discharged their duty weapons, striking the adult female. The deputies immediately rendered life-saving efforts requesting emergency medical services.”
Police said a handgun was recovered at the scene but didn’t release any further information about it.
Crump demanded that any and all police video footage recorded at the scene be released for transparency’s sake as the Harris County District Attorney’s Office conducts an independent investigation. The attorney also drew a correlation between what happened to Pouncy and the Kentucky police shooting of Breonna Taylor in 2020.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Eboni Pouncy as she recovers from not only her bullet wounds, but also the mental trauma that accompanies being shot. It is heartbreaking that this tragedy, reminiscent of the shooting that caused Breonna Taylor’s death, happened at all,” Crump said in a statement. “We demand that the unedited police footage from that night be released immediately so that Eboni, her family, and the Houston community can gain clearer insight into what led to this terrible shooting. Our communities deserve to have full faith that law enforcement officers will not shoot us based on their own instinct or fear, but rather will rely on training and learned skills to protect the public and themselves from unnecessary harm.”
No criminal charges had been brought in the shooting as of Tuesday afternoon.
On March 13, 2020, officers with the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department botched the execution of a no-knock warrant at Breonna Taylor’s home in an apartment complex in search of a suspect who it was later determined was already in custody. When Taylor’s boyfriend suspected an intruder, he retrieved his legally owned gun and fired a shot in the direction of the apartment’s front door, striking an officer who had not identified himself or the other officers on the scene. Officers responded with a barrage of gunshots that ended up killing Taylor, a Black woman.
Officers quickly charged Taylor’s boyfriend with the attempted murder of a police officer before those charges were dismissed without prejudice.
Police never recovered any drugs after attempting to conduct the search warrant in connection to an investigation around Taylor’s ex-boyfriend.
This is America.
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