About 25 people gathered outside St. Louis police headquarters Friday to mark two years since officers shot and killed Isaiah Hammett while executing a search warrant at his grandfather’s home.
SWAT officers who conducted the raid said Hammett, 21, began firing a semiautomatic AK-47 rifle at them as they raided the home, and officers returned fire. Hammett, who was suspected to be involved in illegal gun and drug sales, was shot more than 20 times.
“We feel like this was an intentional execution,” said John Chasnoff, co-chair of Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression, which organized the protest. “Today we’re here specifically to honor Isaiah.”
Chasnoff wore a shirt bearing Hammett’s face and the message “JUSTICE FOR ISAIAH” and used a megaphone to detail how Hammett died. Chasnoff called for an end to police militarization while some in the group held signs with messages including “OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT PESTS, SO WHY S.W.A.T. THEM?” and “FEARED FOR THEIR LIVES???”
Coalition member Keith Rose said he believed a general police force rather than SWAT officers could have served the search warrant.
“SWAT was not formed to execute warrants,” Rose said. “SWAT was formed to execute people.”
Hammett’s family recently filed a lawsuit against St. Louis and the nine officers involved in the search that resulted in Hammett’s death. The lawsuit alleges police used excessive force when they fired on Hammett.
Hammett’s mother, Gina Torres, spoke through tears about her difficulty accepting her son’s death.
“I just wait for him to come in that door,” Torres said. “They killed the wrong kid when they killed my son.”
After the protest, Torres hugged her husband and said she still seeks justice for Isaiah.
“To see all the shots that went into my son’s body,” Torres said. “It’s wrong.”
This article was originally published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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