Black boys held at gunpoint by police in park speak out ‘They pulled a gun in my face, and I was scared’
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The community had many questions last week for police officers who were patrolling a Minnesota park after they handcuffed and drew a gun on four unarmed Black children.
Park goer Brianna Lindell re-hashed the incident in a now viral Facebook post. Lidell says she was in Minnehaha Falls Park with her partner when she came upon a white teenager verbally harassing the group of Somali children with racial slurs, brandishing a metal trash can lid, and saying that he had a knife.
Police officers swooped in and amazingly the Black children were the ones put in handcuffs, with at least one officer drawing his weapon.
And now the boys are telling their side of the harrowing story where police aimed guns at them, threw them in the back of a cruiser and detained them after a bogus 911 call, left them shook and fearing for their lives, reports the Root.
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) On Monday, gave the boys an opportunity to speak their truth at a press conference.
“I was at the park I was just trying to have a good day with my friends,” Adam Guffe recounted in front of reporters. “This white kid just came up to us saying racial slurs toward us. When the cops came, they just put guns to our faces. I felt like I was discriminated [against]. I felt like this was not supposed to happen. I hope it never happens to anyone again.”
“They pulled a gun in my face, and I was scared,” said 14-year-old Suhaib Ahmed. “One was shaking and I was scared that he was going to shoot me.”
Thirteen-year-old Abdijabar Ahmed shared that sentiment saying: “I was scared. I thought that would be my last day of the world.”
—Black family asked for identification after being harassed at community pool—
The Minnesota Park Police is reportedly now trying to make things right and hired an outside legal team to investigate the police officers’ conduct. A representative from the parks also met privately with the families to apologize for the incident, according to KARE.
However Park Police first claims that officers didn’t aim their guns at the kids but later recanted saying that at least one gun was pointed in “the general direction.”
—Lupita Nyong’o is the new face of Calvin Klein and she’s bringing the late Eartha Kitt with her—
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