Minneapolis, MN — Minneapolis Police killed a man who they say was “acting irrationally” and not obeying direct orders to drop a weapon he was holding around 9:30 p.m. on June 12. The victim was publicly identified on June 14 as 39-year-old Michael Ristow. He…
Espírito Santo, Brazil — Providing an update from Brazil, we look at new happenings in four stories that Unicorn Riot has explored in the past; post-slavery commemorations, police killings, Bolsonaro’s legal troubles and the murder of Councilmember Marielle Franco.
Celebrating the Queimado Insurrection
Days of…
Minneapolis, MN – Police associations and pro-police members of Congress are pressuring Minnesota’s governor to wrest prosecuting power away from Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty over her decision to charge State Trooper Ryan Londregan with murder for the July 2023 fatal shooting of Ricky Cobb…
Minneapolis, MN — Less than six months after Ricky Cobb II, 33, was fatally shot by Minnesota State Patrol troopers, Ryan Londregan has been formally charged with three felonies, including murder. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced on January 24, 2024, that her office filed…
London, United Kingdom — Chris Kaba, 24, was unarmed when he was fatally shot by police in Streatham Hill, South London on Sept. 5, 2022. Kaba was the eldest of three brothers raised by parents from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He lived in Wembley,…
A month before Minnesota law enforcement fatally shot Ricky Cobb II during a traffic stop, police in France killed an Algerian teenager during a similar stop leading to a mass revolt across the country against anti-Black racism. An alarming pattern of deadly traffic stops in…
Minneapolis, MN — Around 2 a.m. on July 31, Minnesota State Patrol trooper Ryan Londregan fatally shot Ricky Cobb II, 33, during a traffic stop on Interstate 94 West near 42nd Ave. North. Cobb II is Black and Londregan is white. It’s yet another deadly…
“‘They’re in place on the roof.’ When I heard that I was pretty sure how the night was going to end. I was beginning to panic.” – Mark Sundberg, Tekle’s father
Cindy and Mark Sundberg arrived at their 20-year-old son Tekle’s apartment building late on…
On July 12, 2015, Denver Police officer Michael Traudt fatally shot 35-year-old father of one and Rosebud Sioux tribal member, Paul Castaway, after responding to a mental health crisis help call placed by Castaway’s mother. Despite struggling with the trauma since the tragic killing, Castaway’s…
Activists dropped banners on July 3 to commemorate Isak Aden at Bloomington’s ‘Summer Fete’ fourth of July celebration. Aden, 23, was killed by Bloomington and Eagan police on July 2, 2019. The banners read “Justice 4 Isak Aden”, “BPD Kills”, and “City council complicit in…
In Schenectady, New York, on May 11, 2017, 36-year-old Andrew Kearse died of a heart attack in the back of a police car. Kearse pleaded with officers from the back of the police cruiser, begging for help over 70 times in the span of 17…
Minneapolis, MN — On May 10, 2013, Minneapolis Police killed two people in the span of 30 minutes. Terrance ‘Mookie Moe’ Franklin, 22, was hunted, cornered and gunned down with ten shots, including five bullets to the head. Thirty minutes later, Ivan Romero-Oliveras, 24, was…
Minneapolis, MN — United Nations human rights investigators visited six U.S. cities that have been in the spotlight in recent years for police-involved killings of African Americans. The Minnesota visit comes after Twin Cities based activists organized petitions and letters to get the human rights panel…
Shakopee, MN — After serving sixteen months in Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee for fatally shooting unarmed 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, former Brooklyn Center veteran police officer Kim Potter was released at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning.
Potter was convicted of first and second degree…
Akron, Ohio — Almost a year after 90 shots were fired in the vicious shooting by Akron Police that killed unarmed 25 year old Jayland Walker, a grand jury is set to to be seated on April 10 to hear the evidence in the case.…
Yia Xiong, a 65-year-old Hmong war veteran was killed by Saint Paul Police on Feb. 12, 2023 in his apartment complex. Xiong's family said he had lost his hearing five decades ago while fighting for the U.S. in Laos and did not know the English language.
In a few-day span from Dec. 5 to Dec. 9, fiery protests took hold in several cities in Greece as communities across the country responded to police shooting another Roma youth on the eve of the anniversary of the Dec. 6, 2008 police killing of Alexis Grigoropoulos. Kostas Fragoulis, 16, was shot in the back of the head by Greek police in Thessaloniki on Dec. 5. Fragoulis was pronounced dead eight days later on Dec. 13.
Sioux Falls, SD – Native American communities and grieving family members have been organizing ongoing protests to demand justice for Jacob James, who was shot and killed by police last summer in Sioux Falls. A march took place on Sept. 9, 2022 calling for accountability.…
Saint Paul, MN – As police killings continue to increase in numbers while decreasing in attention, impacted families in the Twin Cities held numerous events during the summer of 2022, keeping the movement alive against what many families call “police terror.” From weekends of intentional…
St. Paul, MN – Standing in front of the Minnesota Governor’s Residence Valerie Castile recounted how former St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez killed her son Philando during a traffic stop six years ago on July 6, 2016, “Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Five times…
Kimberly Handy-Jones, affectionately known as “Mama Handy,” is a pillar in the fight for justice among mothers whose children have been killed by police. For five years she has held an annual banquet summoning mothers from all across the country to gather and honor their…
During episode nine of The Mothers Podcast we hear from Lisa Simpson whose 18-year-old son, Richard Risher, was killed in 2016 by Los Angeles Police Officer Francisco Zaragoza in the Nickerson Gardens Housing Development. Police fired over 70 shots at Risher, 35 hitting his body.
Simpson…
Bloomington, MN – Three years to the day after Isak Aden, 23, was killed by police, activists dropped two banners in Bloomington reading “Bloomington Police killed Isak Aden.”
Stated in an e-mail sent to a press list by an autonomous collective called “Your Friends,” overpass…
Terrence Coleman, 31, was fatally shot by Boston Police Officer Garrett Boyle at his mother’s apartment in 2016. In episode eight of The Mothers Podcast we hear from his mother, Hope Coleman, who shares the horrific details of her son being killed after calling for…
George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police was the most high-profile Minnesota law enforcement killing in a long history. In May 2016, St. Paul police, who have killed more people than Minneapolis officers, killed Jaffort Smith in the North End. In this episode…
Grand Rapids, Michigan – Grand Rapids Police Officer Chris Schurr was charged Thursday with second-degree murder for fatally shooting unarmed Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head on April 4. Schurr turned himself in and has an arraignment scheduled for Friday. [Update: Schurr was…
Toni Biegert visits the site of where her son was killed by police in episode 5 of The Mothers Podcast. Joseph Biegert, a 30-year-old white man, was killed by Green Bay Police Officers Matthew Dunn and Brian Krueger in 2015 as they served a wellness…
In episode 4 of The Mothers Podcast, Montye Benjamin recounts the story of her son, Jayvis Benjamin, who was killed by Avondale Estates Police Officer Lynn Thomas in 2013. Benjamin was involved in a car crash that Thomas responded to and was unarmed when Thomas…
Featured in episode 3 of The Mothers Podcast is Yolanda McNair, the mother of Adaisha Miller who was killed in 2012 by off-duty Detroit Police Officer Issac Parrish while at his home during a party. Since 2012, at least 500 women have been reported as…
Dorothy Copp Elliott, a Maryland schoolteacher and the mother of Archie Elliott III reflects back to 1993 when Prince George’s County Police Officers Jason Leavitt and Wayne Cheney fatally shot her 24-year-old son 14 times during a traffic stop. At the time Elliott was killed,…