Pictured are Cleveland police deadly shooting victims Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell, Cleveland Criminal Defense and Civil Rights Attorney Terry Gilbert (in blue suit) and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty. Both Black and both unarmed, Williams and Russell were gunned down by 13 non-Black Cleveland police officers on November 29, 2012 with 137 rounds of ammunition following a car chase that began in downtown Cleveland and ended at Heritage Middle School in neighboring East Cleveland.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog. Tel: 216-659-0473. (Kathy Wray Coleman is a 20-year investigative and political journalist and legal reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper, Ohio's Black press)
CLEVELAND, Ohio-Greater Cleveland community activists groups, victims and victims family members of police brutality and Black elected officials will will hold a rally and candlelight vigil at 5 pm near Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland at 14410 Terrace Road on Thursday March 6, 2014 to call for a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury currently hearing evidence from County Prosecutor Tim McGinty to issue a criminal indictment against the 13 all non-Black Cleveland cops that gunned down unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams, 31, and Timothy Russell, 43. Both were killed with a hail of 137 Cleveland police bullets on November 29, 2012 following a police car chase without reasonable suspicion or probable cause that began in downtown Cleveland and ended at Heritage Middle School in neighboring East Cleveland, a largely Black impoverished suburb of Cleveland.(The rally and vigil will be at the intersection of Lee and Terrace Roads in East Cleveland near Heritage Middle School. From downtown Cleveland take Euclid Avenue to Lee Road, turn right onto Lee Road and go two blocks to Terrace Road).
Organizers and contacts for the rally and vigil include Oppressed People's Nation Chairman Ernie Smith at 216-778-0998, Imperial Women Activists Group President Kathy Wray Coleman at 216-659-0473, Black on Black Crime Founder Art McKoy at 216-253-4070, and Khalid Samad of Peace in the Hood, who also leads the grassroots group The Task Force for Community Mobilization, at 216-538-4043.
"We will be there," said, Dorothy Sigelmier, a close aunt of Malissa Williams.
"I am pleased to help lead the rally and the police should be indicted," said Ernest Smith, an East Cleveland Community Activist who leads the grassroots group The Oppressed People's Nation.
"We will be there," said both Community Activists Khalid Samad and Art McKoy.
"The 13 police officers that did the shooting should be charged at least with negligent homicide," said Cleveland Attorney Terry Gilbert, during a previous interview with Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read online Black newspaper."
A Civil Rights and criminal defense lawyer, Gilbert represents the estate of Russell, who left behind a 17-year-old son.
The officers at issue have not yet been punished and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty, who is White and an ally to police in greater Cleveland, had refused to push for an indictment before a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury of the all non-Black 13 police officers that did the shooting. But now McGinty is presenting evidence to a grand jury.
Rally speakers include members of the Russell and Williams family, Black clergy, community activists, family members of victims of police brutality, and Black elected officials.
The deadly car chase that ultimately included 104 Cleveland and other police ended with the car Russell was driving and Williams as a passenger shot at with 137 rounds of ammunition, gangster -style.
One of the police officers , who is still on the job like the other 12 officers, jumped aboard the hood of Russell's 1979 Chevy Malibu Classic and fired 49 rounds through the front windshield.
Participating activists groups include The Oppressed People's Nation, Black on Black Crime Inc, The Imperial Women Activists Group, The Carl Stokes Brigade, Peace in the Hood, The Task Force for Community Mobilization, The People's Forum, Revolution Books, Survivors/Victims of Tragedy, The Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, Sister to Sister, Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, People for the Imperial Act, The Joaquin Hicks Real People's Movement, The Cleveland Chapter of the New Black Panther Party, Ohio Family Rights, and The Fairfax Business Association .www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
