Using Black man’s image for target practice was a ‘mistake,’ police chief says
Villa Rica Police Chief Michael Mansour said they started with another target, but once they ran out of those images, they started using ones of a Black man.
A police chief in Georgia claims it was an honest mistake for his officers to use photos of a Black man as a target during a firearms training exercise.
Villa Rica Police Chief Michael Mansour said there was no sinister intent in posting the images, which sparked outrage among Mayor Gil McDougal and community members, according to WSB-TV. The city is approximately 30 miles west of downtown Atlanta.
“The perception of it looks like we have people just shooting at black guys,” Mansour said, WSB reported, “and that’s not at all what it was.”
Still, many people questioned the absence of target practice photographs featuring white people, which Mansour claimed were used but their photos were just not posted.
He referred to a picture of a white man and said the training started with that target, but once they ran out of images, instructors started using the photos of the Black man.
McDougal said it was a poor decision to post the images. He ordered that they be removed from social media and demanded an investigation.
“It was immediately clear to me that the selection of these images during training was offensive,” McDougal said, according to WSB-TV.
McDougal added that the city is receiving calls and emails from residents and is replying to each one individually in an effort to be transparent and assure them that this shouldn’t have happened and won’t happen again,
One resident, Emmanuel Mincey, was so offended that he filed a complaint at the police department. He said the images send the wrong message to the city’s Black community.
“Hey, guys,” Mincey said of the perceived message, WSB reported, “We shoot at you for target practice.”
Mansour, however, said the officers in his department did not see that implication.
“We did not notice that because we don’t look at that,” he countered. “Therefore, it was just a mistake.”
According to The Telegraph, another community member said the incident has made her feel “100% less safe.’
She wrote in a Facebook post: “I already fear for my Black husband, children, friends, and family on a daily basis,” The Telegraph reported. “But to see the ignorance on display from our local police department makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.”
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