Mark Hughes speaks out after being wrongly identified as Dallas shooting suspect
On Thursday night, twelve Dallas police officers were shot, five of them killed, during a march against police violence. The tragic turn of events only compounds the national anger around the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, which prompted the protests.
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In the midst of the chaos, Dallas police released a photo of a person of interest, who turned out to be Mark Hughes, the brother of protest organizer Cory Hughes. Many media outlets reported Mark Hughes to be a suspect, prompting a flood of responses. But many Twitter users were skeptical and called out video footage showing Hughes standing with a large crowd as shots rang out.
–President Obama calls Dallas sniper attacks on police ‘vicious, calculated and despicable’
https://twitter.com/DallasPD/status/751262719584575488
Once the news reached him, Mark Hughes turned himself in but was released shortly after 1:00 a.m. on Friday.
‘Hindsight is 20-20. I could’ve easily been shot,” Hughes told CBS11’s Robbie Owens on live television.
–Woman Facebook Lives dying boyfriend after being shot by cop during traffic stop
“I just got out of the interrogation room for about 30 minutes with police officers lyin’ saying they had video of me shooting, which is a lie,” Hughes said. “(They said) that they have witnesses saying I shot a gun. Which is a lie. I mean at the end of the day, the system is trying to get me.”
His brother, Cory Hughes, said that Mark had been walking around with a rifle and camouflage gear but did not shoot anyone. Cory said he had done a live interview and then walked over to speak with police and shortly after that, Mark flagged police down to turn himself in.
Video shows Hughes turning over his gun and calmly walking with the police officer. Hughes reported getting multiple death threats.
“You know, I am so overwhelmed with emotion right now,” Cory Hughes said after his brother was released. “I’m trying to be strong right now for my family that I know is watching. But I’m crying on the inside because we simply came to be a voice, for those that don’t have a voice and we went from being a voice, to being a suspects and being villains. And my question is why?”
–President Obama it’s time to call it like it is and end the killing of blacks by police
