Killing of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams

Common card · No. 436655

The shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, two Black American individuals, occurred in East Cleveland, Ohio on November 29, 2012, when the sound of vehicle's exhaust backfiring caused police to erroneously claim shots were fired at them as Russell and Williams drove by. A 22-minute police chase which started in downtown Cleveland, involving over 60 officers over 23-miles ended in Russell and Williams being shot over 20 times each and killed in their car inside a parking lot of a middle school. Thirteen police officers surrounding the vehicle fired at Russell and Williams, who were unarmed, over 137 times. In May 2014, one of the officers involved, Michael Brelo, was charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter, and was acquitted by a Cuyahoga County judge of the charges on May 23, 2015. Five police supervisors were also charged with dereliction of duty, a misdemeanor. Their trial was set on July 27, 2015, went through various delays, with prosecutors dismissing all...

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