The Buffalo mass shooting is reviving discussions of many issues across the nation -- from racist, violent rhetoric to the double standards in law enforcement -- after Buffalo police peacefully arrested the armed shooting suspect at the murder scene without firing a single shot. The suspect, Payton Gendron, was armed with an AR-15 rifle, tactical gear, and body armor and has been charged with first-degree murder. MSNBC's Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber notes the bravery of officers and civilians during the emergency while documenting the starkly different police response, and use of force, in far less dangerous incidents where police escalated interactions and used deadly force. The special report compares the facts and threat level of the Buffalo arrest to police use of deadly force against unarmed Black Americans, including Stephon Clark, Jacob Blake, Patrick Lyoya, Walter Scott, and George Floyd, while noting police's deadly use of force continues at the same rate in 2022 as past years. The escalation of traffic stops and arrests for non-violent allegations into physical altercations is a frequent problem, Melber reports, noting it is "known to anyone with a reason to know -- people in legal and media circles who interact with these facts, experts who track the data, and people who live in communities who are policed like this." The report notes civil rights leaders have long argued the goal is not for the police to use more force, nor "err on the side of killing any person who might be dealt with non-violently," but rather advocates say they are "not asking police to kill other suspects the way they are killing unarmed Black people; they are asking police to stop killing unarmed Black people."May 16, 2022
