Cops shoot security guard that just subdued a attempted mass shooter

We all knew it was coming......

Police Suggest Security Guard Jemel Roberson Was To Blame For His Own Death
Illinois State Police says Roberson refused to put down his gun. Witnesses say otherwise.

There’s no question that the death of security guard Jemel Roberson was in grave error.

He was shot dead by a police officer on Sunday but should be taking a victory lap today: He was killed while subduing a suspect in a shooting at the bar where he worked, Manny’s Blue Room in Robbins, Illinois, outside Chicago.

One of the drunken patrons he told to leave earlier had re-entered with a gun and shot multiple people, and Roberson ― who was also armed ― tried to pin one of the men involved until police arrived.

“He had somebody on the ground with his knee in back, with his gun in his back like, ‘Don’t move,’” witness Adam Harris told WGN-TV.

What happened next is still being debated between the Illinois State Police, witnesses and Roberson’s friends and family.

A responding Midlothian police officer shot Roberson, 26, who later died at a hospital. On Tuesday state police, tasked with independently investigating the shooting by the officer, stated in a press release that Roberson didn’t identify himself as a security guard and ignored the officer’s demands to drop his gun:

Upon his arrival, a Midlothian Police Officer encountered a subject in plain black clothing with no markings readily identifying him as a Security Guard, armed with a gun in the west parking lot. According to witness statements, the Midlothian Officer gave the armed subject multiple verbal commands to drop the gun and get on the ground before ultimately discharging his weapon and striking the subject.

On Wednesday, however, a witness had a different story. Dorian Myrickes told The Associated Press that nobody ordered Roberson to put down his gun before he was shot and that he was wearing at the time a knit hat and black sweatshirt, both emblazoned with the word “security.”


Myrickes was shot in the initial incident. From his hospital room, he spoke to the AP, which reported, “Myrickes says he had just been shot in the shoulder by a gunman inside Manny’s Blue Room in Robbins early Sunday when he saw the officer point his gun at the 26-year-old Roberson. He says he could hear people yelling that Roberson was a security guard. The officer then fired multiple shots.”

One of Roberson’s friends from high school, Citlali Arroyo, told HuffPost that she was sad ― but not surprised ― to see police cast blame onto her “gentle giant” of a friend for his own death.

“We all know how these things go. I know that we’re all scared for what’s going to come next,” she said. “Generally, in the aftermath comes destruction of the person’s character, and we want to stop this from happening.”

Arroyo helped plan a vigil in Chicago on Friday for those who can’t make a family event for Roberson outside the city. It will be a peaceful affair at their high school, Lane Tech, to honor Roberson as they remember him: the father of a 9-year-old boy, Tristan, for whom Roberson was working extra shifts to buy presents; a hero whose girlfriend is pregnant with their second child; a musician at several local churches he attended; a lawful man with dreams of becoming a police officer; a hard worker who helped his friends get through school.

“We both almost didn’t graduate, so we worked really hard to make it through together,” Arroyo said over the phone, through tears. “His character is just a warm, friendly, gentle giant. He was always so goofy. Friendly, kind and funny — those are the top three for anyone who knew him. He was always laughing or joking around.”

A GoFundMe campaign set up on behalf of Roberson’s family for his funeral costs reached $140,000 by Thursday.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entr...rd-jemel-roberson_us_5bed9bb8e4b0dbb7ea6866a2
 
https://www.chicagotribune.com/subu...ing-jemel-roberson-police-20181114-story.html

Midlothian cop told Jemel Roberson to drop weapon before fatal Robbins shooting, state police say. Lawyer claims probe rushed.


A Midlothian police officer gave “multiple verbal commands” to security officer Jemel Roberson to drop his gun and get on the ground before fatally shooting Roberson at a Robbins bar Sunday morning, according to details from a preliminary Illinois State Police investigation released late Tuesday.

But an attorney for Roberson’s family questioned Wednesday how quickly police were releasing details of their investigation, and he also took issue with a police description of what Roberson was wearing during the incident.

State police, who said the investigation remains open, cited “witness statements” in their report.

Roberson, who was black, was working security at the bar. The preliminary report says that Roberson was wearing “plain black clothing with no markings readily identifying him as a Security Guard,” and was “armed with a gun in the west parking lot” of the bar when the Midlothian officer, who is white and was responding to a “shots fired” call at the bar, came upon him.

The report by state police contradicts claims made by the attorney for Roberson’s family that Roberson was wearing a hat that had “security” printed on it. The lawyer has also said witnesses told him several people called out to the officer that Roberson was a security guard.

The state police investigation found that about 4 a.m., “an armed suspect (had) entered the lounge and opened fire striking multiple people inside the establishment.” Officers from Robbins, Midlothian and other suburban departments had responded.

The preliminary investigation revealed Roberson, 26, of Chicago, was “attempting to subdue a subject suspected to be involved in the initial shooting” at Manny’s Blue Room Lounge, 2911 S. Claire Blvd. in Robbins, according to witnesses.

“According to witness statements, the (unidentified) Midlothian Officer gave the armed subject (Roberson) multiple verbal commands to drop the gun and get on the ground before ultimately discharging his weapon and striking the subject,” state police said.

The state police report said “officers readily provided medical assistance to multiple gunshot victims, including Roberson. Roberson was transported to a local area hospital where he was pronounced deceased.”

Midlothian police asked the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force to conduct an independent investigation of the officer’s use of force. The Cook County sheriff’s office is investigating the initial shooting.

The officer, a member of the patrol division and a team leader on the South Suburban Emergency Response Team, is on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the Illinois State Police investigation.

Midlothian police officials clarified Wednesday that he'd been with the department for nearly four years and had spent three years prior to that with another agency. Previously, officials had said he'd been with the department for seven years.

The state police report was issued at the end of a day during which questions were still being asked about the shooting and emotions still were running high. Online commenters and a small group of protesters outside the Midlothian police station Tuesday night said Roberson was being a “good guy with a gun” and that he was shot by police because he’s black.

Greg Kulis, the attorney for Roberson’s family, said he’d never seen the state police issue a statement with preliminary findings just 2 1/2 days into an investigation of an officer-involved shooting, saying he often has to fight for months to even get reports from the agency.

Kulis said he had no idea what information state police had relied on to make their preliminary findings, but he said that he had spoken to witnesses who would testify that Roberson was dressed in marked security garb and that bystanders were yelling at the Midlothian officer that Roberson was a security guard before the officer opened fire.

“They can say what they want to say, the facts will, hopefully, ultimately show what occurred,” he said, adding that he didn’t put a lot of credence in the agency’s findings, citing a joint WBEZ and Better Government Association investigation that found none of the officers involved in 113 suburban Cook County police shootings since 2005 had been disciplined, fired or charged criminally.

“Out of 100-and-something shootings, I don’t believe that 113 of them were justified,” Kulis said.

The lawyer said he planned to immediately request that state police turn over “every single" document its investigators used to make their preliminary findings.

“Guess what? They’ve issued a statement. I’m entitled to see it now,” Kulis said.

Illinois State Police Sgt. Jacqueline Cepeda said: "At this time the investigation is open and ongoing, and the press release sent out (Tuesday) is all we will be disseminating as of now. Should we send any additional information out regarding any updates to the case we will ensure you receive the information.”

Also Wednesday, an official with the Illinois Liquor Control Commission said the bar’s state liquor license had expired Sept. 30 and that the agency had not yet received a renewal application. A $500 penalty is imposed for a lapsed license, and additional fines can be issued for repeated license lapses or if other violations of state liquor laws occur, the agency said.

It was not immediately clear what penalties the business could face if it served alcohol without a valid state liquor license.

As to whether Manny’s has a valid local liquor license, Robbins Village Administrator Keith Freeman said Wednesday: “In order for you to do business in Robbins, you have to have a valid liquor license, so yes, they had a valid liquor license.” He did not immediately provide a copy of the document.
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The Lonious Monk said:
I'm guessing no body cam was involved because the truth of the story should be pretty easy to get from that footage.
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I was wondering the same... there should be body cam footage.. or maybe even footage from the establishment
 
Shit is really crazy when you think about it.

The shooter lived through the ordeal. The hero was killed.
The shooter was handled by a civilian. The hero was handled by the cops.

Anyone who thinks that makes sense should go back in time and trade places with the security guard.
 
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https://www.chicagotribune.com/subu...ty-guard-shooting-witness-20181115-story.html

Witness to shooting of security guard Jemel Roberson: Officer opened fire 'not even 5 seconds' after warning


Jemel Roberson was wearing a cap and sweatshirt that had the word “Security” on them when he was fatally shot by a Midlothian police officer while Roberson was trying to subdue a suspect early Sunday at a Robbins bar, a man who said he was working with him at the bar told the Tribune.

Dorian Myrickes, 43, who said he was wounded during the chaotic early-morning incident at the bar, also said the Midlothian officer did warn Roberson to drop his gun but fired at him within “not even five seconds” of the warning.

Authorities investigating the shooting declined to address Myrickes’ accounts or confirm that he was present.

But Myrickes, who spoke Thursday morning from a suburban hospital bed, said another officer at the scene rebuked the Midlothian cop after Roberson’s shooting.

“One cop ... he said, ‘Man, you didn’t have to do that, you didn’t have to do that. We know these guys. We told you they’re security,’’’ said Myrickes, who said he was close to passing out from his injury when he heard that statement.

A second man who said he witnessed the shooting from his back porch next door to the bar, Jeff Carey, said he heard the officer tell Roberson to get on the ground before the officer fired on him.

The officer “didn’t give the guy any chance to identify himself or anything,” Carey said. “He just started shooting. I think it was more out of fear. You know what I’m saying? Just fear.”

Myrickes also said Roberson initially sought assistance from the Midlothian officer to help him subdue a suspect from an earlier shooting that had brought several police officers to the scene.

Myrickes’ description of what Roberson was wearing differs from details from an Illinois State Police preliminary investigation that said Roberson was wearing “plain black clothing with no markings readily identifying him as a Security Guard.”

Myrickes’ account also differs in one aspect from what he earlier told The Associated Press. The AP reported that Myrickes said he never heard the officer tell Roberson to drop his gun. In a later interview with the Tribune, Myrickes said he did hear the officer command Roberson to drop his weapon before shooting him seconds later.

Myrickes could not be reached again later to clarify the discrepancy.

State police, citing witness statements, said Wednesday that Roberson was told “multiple” times to drop his gun.

Myrickes’ account adds fuel to the controversy that has arisen over the shooting of Roberson, who is black, by the Midlothian officer, who is white and has since been placed on leave. The shooting took place while the officer and others responded to a “shots fired” call at Manny’s Blue Room Lounge on Claire Boulevard in Robbins.

In his interview with the Tribune, Myrickes said he and Roberson were part of the six-person security team working at Manny’s on Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Myrickes said he and Roberson were initially working unarmed as the inside crew but that he believes Roberson either had a suspect’s gun when he was shot by police or had at some point retrieved his own weapon from his vehicle parked outside.

Myrickes said a fight broke out between two groups of men and that he and Roberson were trying to defuse the situation.

“So we got, like, four people out the front door, and we were trying to get eight people out the side door,” Myrickes said from his hospital room. “They were becoming very aggressive and started threatening our lives. We get them out the door, we tell them we’re going to make sure they get their people out safely, that we didn’t mean no harm, we just got to break up the altercation.

“Next thing you know, one of the guys pulled a gun out and started shooting,” Myrickes said, adding that security guards working outside the club make sure male patrons get “patted down pretty good” before entering the bar. He said he believed the shooter either stashed a gun outside or someone outside passed it to him.

Myrickes said he and Roberson were near the doorway but still inside when the shooting started. But before they could shut the door, he said, a second person started shooting.

“By this time, I didn’t even realize I was hit. I stumbled and I fell,” he said, adding that a young woman told him to get up or he was going to die.

Myrickes said he could hear someone in the group of men that had started shooting yelling, “Go get the blitz,” which meant they wanted to get a bigger weapon.

“Everyone started panicking, running in different directions,” he said. “I stumbled out the front door. … That’s when I ran into the (Midlothian) police officer (who) had the AR-15, and he pointed it straight at my head, he said, ‘Put your hands up.’”

Myrickes said he told the officer he was a security guard and not to shoot him.

“He comes over, puts the flashlight in my face and said, ‘You’ve been hit,’” Myrickes said. “He pulled my sweatshirt back and told me I was hit with a gun. He was so aggressive, and I said, ‘Let me go back in the club and warn them that a cop’s coming in with a gun.’

“He (runs) past me so fast — I made it back into the club — and he jumps up on the bar, points the gun at the bartender, shouting, ‘Get on the ground!’”

Myrickes said there were other police officers already in the bar at that point but that none were helping Roberson with the suspect from the earlier shooting, whom he was holding at gunpoint facedown on the ground just outside the side door.

“He was yelling (to Roberson to) drop the gun,” Myrickes said. “Jemel said, ‘I’m security. You need to handcuff this guy, get (him) under control.’ We don’t want the guy to flip over and take the gun from Jemel.”

Myrickes said that from the time the officer ordered Roberson to drop the gun to the time the officer fired the first shot was “not even five seconds.”

“The first shot goes in (Roberson’s) leg,” Myrickes said. “(The officer) waves the gun across the bar, everybody’s like, ‘Whoa, whoa,’ and then (the officer) shoots (Roberson) again. I saw Jemel get hit a second time in the side.”

Myrickes said he then began to pass out but heard another cop in the bar rebuke the officer who shot Roberson.

“One cop, black cop with glasses, he said, ‘Man, you didn’t have to do that, you didn’t have to do that. We know these guys. We told you they’re security.’”

Myrickes said he didn’t recognize the officer who opened fire or the officer who gave the reprimand.
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Official sources have not addressed many aspects of Myrickes’ account, including how many officers were on the scene, whether the officer who shot Roberson used an AR-15, an assault rifle, or whether another officer admonished the Midlothian cop for shooting Roberson.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office has confirmed that Roberson died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Myrickes said he believed the man Roberson was subduing was one of the men who opened fire on them, but he did not know whether the gun Roberson was holding was his own or one he had taken away from the shooter.

“Jemel and I weren’t armed that night,” he said. “Jemel leaves his bulletproof vest and gun in the car. … Jemel may have had time to go get his gun out of his car when the fight started brewing. He did everything right. He didn’t deserve to get shot.”

Carey, the man who lives adjacent to the bar, said that from his vantage point, it appeared that the initial chaos from the first shooting was calming down and that people were milling around the parking lot when the Midlothian officer burst out from the side door.

Carey guessed that there were about two dozen people in the parking lot, including civilians and officers from Robbins and elsewhere, when Roberson was shot.

When those shots rang out, “everybody ran because we didn’t know who was shooting at first. You hear the, ‘Get on the ground! Boom boom boom!’ Everybody just kind of scattered. Then once they came along, they see Jemel dropping. Everybody was like, ‘That was security!’”

Carey said Roberson was wearing a black hoodie, but Carey said he couldn’t discern whether Roberson’s clothing marked him as a security guard. Carey also said the security guard had a hat on at one point but he wasn’t sure if Roberson was still wearing the hat when he was shot.

Carey said it appeared that other officers on the scene could have taken control of the suspect Roberson was trying to subdue before the Midlothian officer shot Roberson.

Myrickes said he and Roberson had been working together at the club for a while.

“He was a gentle giant,” Myrickes said. “He would always say ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am.’ Even if he was kicking someone out, he would always say, ‘Hey, go home and sober up and come back and party with us the next day.’ He was never disrespectful.”

Myrickes said he was shot twice in the shoulder and that one of his lungs is collapsed. He said doctors are contemplating surgery to repair the lung.

He choked up with emotion when he recalled hearing that Roberson was dead.

“My brother came to the (hospital) room Monday and told me,” he said. “I was hurt, man. The guy was 26. This guy was trying to do everything the right way.”
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...othian-police-officer-lee-merritt/2026791002/

Jemel Roberson: Family demands police release name of cop who shot black security guard

MIDLOTHIAN, Ill. – An attorney for the partner of the black security guard who was shot to death by a suburban Chicago police officer this week called on investigators Friday to release the officer’s name – or he'll do it himself.

Jemel Roberson, 26, was working security at a bar in Robbins, Illinois, early Sunday when a gunman opened fire inside the bar.

Roberson was armed and licensed to carry a gun. He apprehended the gunman outside the bar, pinned him down and was waiting for police help when a responding officer from the neighboring town of Midlothian arrived.

Police say the officer ordered Roberson to drop his gun. Witnesses say they shouted that Roberson was a security guard. The officer shot and killed Roberson.

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing the mother of Roberson’s 9-month-old son, accused Illinois State Police and the Midlothian Police Department of withholding the name of the officer to give him time to clean up his internet footprint and “hide evidence.”

Merritt also represents the family of Botham Jean, the Dallas man who was shot to death in his home in September by an off-duty police officer.

Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger has said she mistakenly entered the man’s apartment in the same complex where she lived. She has said she thought she was in her apartment, and Jean was an intruder.

Dallas Police kept Guyger's name out of the public until she was arrested and charged with manslaughter, about 48 hours after the incident.

“They refused to release Amber Guyger’s name, which gave her a chance to scrub the internet and hide evidence,” Merritt told USA TODAY on Friday. “It’s exactly what’s going on here.”

Merritt said he’s learned the name of the Midlothian officer independently and plans to release it to the media on Monday if authorities haven't by then.

Illinois State Police, which is investigating the shooting, referred questions on the officer's identity to Midlothian Police. Officials in Midlothian did not respond to requests for comment.

Midlothian Police have confirmed that the officer is white, has been a police officer for about seven years, including four years with Midlothian, and is a team leader on a SWAT task force that includes officers from south suburban Chicago law enforcement agencies.

The shooting outside Manny's Blue Room Lounge in Robbins has drawn national headlines, outrage and questions about whether race factored into the officer’s decision to open fire. Roberson was black. The officer is white.

The person Roberson apprehended had allegedly fired a weapon inside the bar moments earlier, wounding multiple people and drawing police from surrounding jurisdictions to rush to the establishment.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting inside the bar. The state police Public Integrity Task Force is investigating the shooting outside the bar. No charges have been filed in either incident.

The task force has said the Midlothian officer was responding to reports of a shooting when he saw a man decked out in “plain black clothing with no markings readily identifying him as a security guard, armed with a gun."

“According to witness statements, the Midlothian Officer gave the armed subject multiple verbal commands to drop the gun and get on the ground before ultimately discharging his weapon and striking the subject,” state police said.

Midlothian’s Police chief has praised Roberson as a brave man who was doing his job. He said he saw the incident ultimately as a "blue on blue," friendly fire shooting.

Merritt accused Illinois State Police and Midlothian Police of releasing a slow drip of information “designed to exonerate this officer … and throw water on the community unrest.”

Merritt said witnesses have told him that Roberson was wearing a beanie-styled hat emblazoned with the word “SECURITY,” and a shirt and vest with similar markings.

The attorney said witnesses – some of whom he said were not interviewed by police – told him the officer did not give Roberson an opportunity to comply with his order to drop the gun.

“They’re (police) saying 'We told him drop the gun and he didn’t, that there was time to reflect,' ” Merritt said. “The people we’ve interviewed are saying ‘It was drop the gun – Pop! Pop! Pop!”

Roberson suffered multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Officer.

Roberson's mother has filed a federal civil lawsuit against Midlothian and the officer.

Several Chicago area pastors and civil rights activist joined Merritt’s call to release the officer’s name. The Rev. Michael Pfleger, a prominent Catholic pastor and civil rights activist, said Midlothian should immediately fire the officer and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office should file murder charges.

Authorities say that officers from several jurisdictions were at the scene. The Midlothian officer is the only one who discharged his weapon.

“It was not a blue on blue,” Pfleger said. “It was blue-on-black crime. This was no accidental murder. This was racial profiling.”

LeAundre Hill, pastor at Chicago’s Purposed Church, said Roberson worked as an organist and musician at several Chicago-area churches and recently helped with the music at the funeral service for one of Hill’s relatives.

Roberson had a 9-month-old son with Avontae Boose. She is pregnant with their second child.

He planned to apply to become a police officer in the Chicago area.

Roberson had been hustling to pick up work wherever he could find it, Merritt said, so he’d have money to buy plenty of gifts for his son’s first Christmas. He had a paid gig to play organ at a Chicago church on the morning he was killed.

Boose had been nervous about being pregnant again, Merritt said, but Roberson had assured her they’d be fine.

“The idea to being pregnant again that soon after having her first child was kind of kind of scary,” Merritt said. “He was able to calm her down. He said, 'I'm going to become a police officer. I am going to be able to provide for you and this family.’ ”
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https://www.nydailynews.com/news/na...un-control-is-nothing-new-20181113-story.html

Jemel Roberson, Philando Castile and society's problematic views of black men with guns

Jemel Roberson was a good guy with a gun — and police shot him dead.

The black security guard’s death reflects the racial limitations on the right to bear arms, activists say. Far too often, critics contend, the protections afforded to gun owners haven’t applied to people of color.

Roberson’s death is the latest in a string of tragic police shootings involving black men who were holding guns but seemingly posed no active threat.

The 26-year-old was apprehending a gunman who opened fire at a Chicago-area bar when he was shot and killed by a responding officer.

State police said that Roberson was given “multiple verbal commands” to drop his weapon, an account contradicted by witness statements.

Anthony C. Thompson, Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law, says incidents involving police and armed black men continue to “propagate the notion that black America and white America have a very different approach to law enforcement.”

“If a black man has a gun in America, police have their hands on their trigger,” Thompson said.

When a white person has a gun, “there is a different outcome," he said.

Roberson’s shooting is at odds with the theory pushed by President Trump and gun rights groups such as the National Rifle Association that “good guys with guns” can reduce gun violence.

“The President of the United States, he says the only way to stop a mass shooting is have an armed security guard,” activist Eric Russell said at a rally following Roberson’s death. “But I guess what he really meant, ‘as long as that armed security guard is not black.’ ”

“Being black in America gets you murdered by cops even when you’re the ‘good guy with a gun.’ Waiting to hear the NRA respond,” activist and pastor Bishop Talbert Swan wrote on Twitter.

Clayton Cramer, a historian who has spent decades researching the racism surrounding gun laws and an adjunct professor for the College of Western Idaho, says racism has always been at the core of gun control laws.

Many gun laws were originally put in place more than a century ago to keep "blacks and Hispanics ‘in their place,’” and to prevent backlash from slaves or free blacks, Cramer wrote in his 1993 text “The Racist Roots of Gun Control.”

In one example from Tennessee, Cramer wrote, officials were so fearful of armed blacks in 1834 that they changed an article in the state’s constitution from, “That the freemen of this State have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defence,” to “That the free white men of this State have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defence.”

Following the Civil War, African Americans tried to carry weapons to defend themselves — leading many white-run governments to push for laws that would rid blacks of their right to bear arms.

In the 1960s, even the NRA backed gun control efforts due to the Black Panthers taking to the streets carrying guns.

After the 2016 shooting of Philando Castile, a black man who was killed during a traffic stop in Minnesota after he calmly told an officer he had a gun, the NRA declined to address the shooting for nearly a year, despite the fact that Castile was doing nothing wrong.

The officer fired seven shots after he believed Castile was reaching for his gun.

In fact, Castile was attempting to grab his wallet.

In a 2017 letter addressed to NRA’s CEO Wayne LaPierre, activist Tamika Mallory — one of the co-founders of the Women’s March — accused the NRA of having a “complete disregard for the lives of black and brown people in America.”

“Your organization claims to stand for the Second Amendment rights of all Americans, but instead of affirming Mr. Castile's constitutional right to carry his gun, you released this vicious and incendiary video calling for armed conflict,” Mallory wrote.

In August 2014, a 22-year-old man, John Crawford, was killed by police after a 911 caller claimed an armed man was pointing a gun at customers at an Ohio Walmart.

Video later showed that Crawford was holding an air rifle by his side that he picked up from the store shelf.

“If he did nothing wrong, if he did not commit a crime, then why is he still not here?” Crawford’s father, John Crawford Jr., asked at a news conference.

About a month later, Tamir Rice,12, was shot dead outside a Cleveland recreational center.

The officers involved in the case claimed they were in “immediate danger” — despite a 911 call from a witness who told police that a pistol Rice was carrying was “probably a fake.”

In spite of shootings such as Roberson’s, one organization has begun encouraging and teaching its members to responsibly carry firearms.

The Brown Girls Project, a women-empowerment program founded by Tiffany Ware, has hosted concealed carry workshops for more than 300 women.

Ware, a marketing manager, wanted to create a “friendly” environment where woman could have the opportunity to explore things they were once told they “could and could not do.”

She worries that if an officer fails to appropriately assess a situation, it could result in another incident similar to Roberson’s. But she also feels safer carrying her weapon due to society’s lingering prejudices.

“The color of our skin is a weapon for them,” she told Daily News. “It’s really not about gun control, it’s about controlling minorities.”
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