Woodfin Won’t Resign In Controversy Over Police Shooting
Mayor Randall Woodfin said he will not resign despite Black Lives Matter Birmingham’s calls for him to do so following last month’s police killing of Desmon Montez Ray Jr.
Ray, 28, was killed by police on Easter Sunday as they responded to a domestic dispute call in north Birmingham. After a chase, officers say Ray fired a gun at police as he exited his vehicle; they returned fire, killing him.
After criticism from Ray’s family and local activists, Birmingham Police Chief Patrick D. Smith released three videos — from officers’ body cameras and a neighbor’s security camera — showing the shooting.
On Monday, Black Lives Matter Birmingham called the release of the videos “unacceptable.”
“The family should not have seen this video on the news or through social media without the leadership first contacting them,” said BLM Birmingham co-founder Eric Hall.
BLM has also called for the full release of unedited footage for full transparency in the investigation, and for Woodfin and Smith to resign.
In a Tuesday morning press conference, Woodfin offered condolences to Ray’s family but brushed off calls to resign.
“There are real issues in America right now, and these issues have persisted for quite some time, where unarmed Black men have been shot by white officers. I want to make myself very clear: This is not one of those instances,” he said. “The sentiment I have every day when I wake up is, and I know the chief of police shares the same sentiment, that when our police officers interact with citizens … we want everyone to go home safe, the citizen and the police. Unfortunately, that did not happen.”
Woodfin said he looked forward to a complete report from the State Bureau of Investigation. But in the meantime, he said, he wanted to make one point very clear: “I will not be resigning.”
Two fatal police shootings have happened in Birmingham in 2021 — Ray on April 4 and Eusi Malik Kater Jr. on Jan. 21. Last month, Woodfin announced the creation of a Civilian Review Board to investigate claims of misconduct by the BPD. The board, he said, would “build immediate trust with the citizens we serve.”
Mississippi executes the longest-serving man on the state’s death row for 1976 killing
Richard Gerald Jordan, the longest-serving man on Mississippi's death row was executed Wednesday, nearly five decades after he kidnapped and killed a bank loan officer's wife in a violent ransom scheme.
Key takeaways from the Trump-dominated NATO summit
NATO's summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday has been described as "transformational" and "historic."
Trump administration sues all of Maryland’s federal judges over deportation order
The action lays bare the administration's attempt to exert its will over immigration enforcement, and a growing anger at federal judges who have blocked executive branch actions they see as lawless.
In a first-of-its-kind decision, an AI company wins a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by authors
U.S. District Judge William Alsup's ruling this week, in a case brought by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson last year, opens a potential pathway for AI companies to train their large language models on copyrighted works without authors' consent — but only if copies of the works were obtained legally.
RFK Jr. says U.S. will stop funding global vaccine group over ‘vaccine safety’ issues
The secretary of health and human services said that funding will be curtailed until Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, takes into account the science of vaccine safety in its campaigns.
Senators question Trump plan to kill federal funds for PBS, NPR and some foreign aid
Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee pushed back against the Trump administration's bid to rescind federal funding for public broadcasting and international aid programs.