Story and photos by Joycelyne Fadojutimi
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According to police report, Longview Police Officers were investigating suspicious activity at 559 Mobberly Avenue, Tuesday at 3:42 am when the least unexpected happened. Police officers were standing in front of This Our Store when an African American young man came around the corner and produced what looked like a handgun from the waist band of his trousers. One police officer fired his weapon several times striking victim who was taken to Good Shepherd Medical Center. He had non-life threatening injuries. Later, the victim was identified as 17 year-old Joshua Kennon Thomas. Furthermore, Police determined Thomas’ weapon was an Umarex SA9 CO2 powered pistol which closely resembles a semi-automatic handgun.The Longview Police Department (LPD) says transparency is tops in their books. Hence, it is typical for LPD to ask Texas Rangers to conduct investigations when Longview Police Officers are involved in a shooting as in this case. The Texas Rangers on completion of the investigation will send their findings to the Gregg County District’s Office to be reviewed and presented to a grand jury.
Meanwhile, Longview Police Department Internal Affairs is also conducting its own investigation to make sure officers adhered to LPD policies and procedures. While the investigation is going on, the three officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave.
That is not all.
Roy Smith, the brother of the man who owns This Our Store is concerned about Joshua Thomas. “Why would a young man be out at that time,” he asked? “Should he not be in bed and why did no-one notice he was not home.” What’s more, “Everyone should be at home and not on the street after midnight,” he said.
According to Smith, Joshua has been hanging around This Our Store, a 24-hour convenient store. The employees have been feeding him from time to time. By the same token, Smith has his own analysis of what transpired between Joshua and the police. He believes sometimes people want to commit suicide. For that reason, they put themselves in harm’s way. In this case, Smith called it cop-suicide-Joshua wanted the police to shoot and kill him because he is tired of living. In addition, Smith was perturbed because Joshua’s mother was rather interested in suing the police than going to Good Shepherd and finding out the condition of her son. “I am not saying that police do not shoot people in other places, Smith stated. “But what I am saying which no-one should forget, police protect more people than they hurt. They work to protect innocent citizens.”
