The latest chapter in an ongoing national narrative concerning excessive and deadly police force has seen two Roanoke, Virginia, police officers take administrative leave in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Kionte Spencer. Spencer, a Martinsville resident who resided in a group home for mentally ill teens, was tasered and then shot twice while wearing headphones after officers mistook his Crosman BB Gun for a 9mm pistol.
Spencer’s untimely encounter with local law enforcement occurred after officers were dispatched to the bustling Cave Spring Shopping Center amid reports of what amounted to Spencer brandishing a weapon. This “weapon,” however, turned out to be a broken BB gun he had found on the floor of his friend’s room just hours prior.
When officers arrived on the scene, preliminary reports state that the teen was walking along, listening to music via headphones, and carrying the defective BB gun. According to the Roanoke County Police Department (via the Roanoke Times), this chain of events led to the officers firing fatal rounds upon Spencer.
“Police Chief Howard Hall said a preliminary investigation shows that Spencer did not respond to officers’ repeated commands to drop the weapon. Officers twice attempted to deploy a Taser, but it was unsuccessful.”
After the unsuccessful deployment of the officers’ taser, two consequentially fatal shots were fired at the high school junior. According to autopsy reports, Spencer was shot once in the clavicle and once in the hip. The wound to Spencer’s clavicle was cited as ultimately causing his death.
Internal investigators for the Roanoke County Police Department are still in the process of determining whether the young man could effectively hear the officers’ instructions with his back turned and wearing earphones. Reportedly, the officers fired upon Spencer as he turned towards them with the defective BB gun in hand.
Concerning the critical factor of Spencer’s ability to properly heed the officers’ commands while wearing earphones, Roanoke County Police Spokeswoman Amy Whitaker had this to say to CNN .
“We’re still in the preliminary investigation but we believe Mr. Spencer was aware of officers’ presence, and that they were giving him multiple commands to drop his weapon.”
In regards to these comments, Roanoke NAACP chapter president Brenda Hale had this response for reporters.
“It was not a deadly force situation. There was no evidence that this young teenager was a threat to anybody.”
Hale went on to further compare the killing of Kionte Spencer to the police shooting and subsequent death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Hale also claimed that the officers and responding residents held a racial bias against Spencer due to his style of dress and skin color.
In remembrance of Spencer, teachers and classmates at Hidden Valley High recently held an emotional early-morning vigil for their now-deceased student and classmate. Words such as “harmless” and “always dancing” were used to characterize Kionte’s affable and engaging personality traits.
Hidden Vally High teacher Randy Polito spoke to the Roanoke Times concerning Spencer’s love of dance.
“Not just bobbing his head: full on dancing. Poppin’, lockin’, throwin’ it up,” teacher Randy Polito said. “The joy that he really had inside him, that’s what I’m going to take away from this. He was fun and he was funny.”
In seeking a just and fair investigation, the NAACP’s Hale has also urged Roanoke County’s Police Department to release the names of the two officers who are on leave following Spencer’s death.
However in a press release, the department stated, “There are calls to reveal the names of officers involved in this event. We will not do so at this time. The officers involved are essential to the investigatory process that is underway. There is no discernible benefit to exposing officers to unwarranted speculation while the facts related to the incident are yet to be fully known.”
The unfortunate death of Kionte Spencer has led to yet another sad dialogue concerning racial profiling and excessive use of force by police nationwide.
[Photo by Chris Smodervilla/Getty Images]
