Cincinnati. Beanbag shotgun round hospitalizes teacher. Mourners shot unprovoked

Update on Christine Jones who was shot twice point blank in Cincy April 14th (english)
by partner 3:08pm Sun Apr 15 '01
http://www.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=34482

At this time she has been admitted to Jewish Hospital in Louisville Ky. She has sustained pulmonary contusions (Bruised lungs), a bruised and bleeding spleen (life threatening), and a fracturced rib. After going most of the night without sleep she spent 7 hours telling her story to the press and other activist groups who called or came to visit. She is in deep pain but complaining more about the brutal police force that created the c onditions that killed T. Thomas
The above summary udates story below.

At about 4pm Saturday afternoon, I was with a group of mourners who had gathered at the corner of Elm and Liberty in the Over the Rhine section of Cincinnati. We had slowly made our way there after the end of the funeral service for Timothy Thomas, which had occurred about two blocks away. Approximately fifteen minutes past 4pm, five police cars screeched around the corner on Liberty, heading towards Elm. The police cars then skidded to a stop within 20 feet of the group of mourners. They immediately got out of their cars, aimed shot guns at us, and opened fire. They randomly shot down the street. There were children between the ages of 6 and up, who ran terrified up the street, trying to flee from the hail of bullets. An image that is etched into my memory, that I keep playing over in my head, is that of a seven/eight year old girl with a look of horror on her face, sprinting up the street, trying to escape the gunfire. It seemed as though we were in a war zone, but we had no weapons and were unarmed. As soon as the cops started shooting at us, everybody turned and ran. Some of the cops ran several yards after us continuing to shoot. I sprinted back towards the funeral home, terrified. The cops continued shooting for at least 30 seconds. Soon after, I realized that my friend, Christine Jones, had been shot twice in the back as she was running away. At least one child was also shot down. After they stopped shooting they immediately got back into their cars and sped off.
There was absolutely no provocation. There was absolutely no warning. It was a drive-by shooting. Following the shooting, I was able to pick up several shotgun shells left in the street. They had used at least two different types of ammunition, rubber bullets and small bags of metal pellets.
Christine collapsed in a small passageway between two buildings after she was shot. Within 20 minutes hundreds of other mourners gathered there. Everyone was asking if Christine was doing all right. As accounts of what happened were shared between victims of this vigilante assault upon the citizens of the Over the Rhine neighborhood, feelings of shock, anger, and sadness arose in the growing crowd. Why had this happened? Why would the police shoot into a crowd of unarmed citizens, including children, who came together to pay there respects to the family of Timothy Thomas? We were doing what we had been doing all afternoon - sharing our stories, praying and showing our respect through silence. This was not anger towards white people. This was not a race war. This was the Cincinnati police force attacking the citizens of Cincinnati, and whomever else happened to be on the street. The crowd of people were majority black with a few white supporters. The group was concerned with Christine, who could not move her back, because the pain was too intense. Four calls were made to the police to try and get an ambulance to pick up Christine.
Not long after the five cars rode off, twice as many cop cars pulled up in the intersection. Again, they got out with their shotguns. But by this time, dozens of reporters had shown up with cameras rolling, and the Public Safety Director was also supposedly on the scene. The people were in a fury, hurling bottles towards the cops and waiting for the least provocation to rush the cops, shotguns or no. Within 10 minutes the cops were gone again, shown down by the surging crowd and the media, most of whom seemed to have no illusions as to what was going on. Christine, in severe pain as her open wounds swelled to the size of softballs, remained lying in the passageway waiting on an ambulance for well over an hour and twenty minutes.
There wasn't any room for racism or distrust among the mourners, apparently because on the streets of Cincinnati, if a person mourns the victims of police murder, the police are equal opportunity shooters. The amount of support and strength given by the people to one another was truly amazing. United in our fear of being shot down by an out-of-control fascist death squad, in our desire for justice, in our anger at injustice, we all came together at a crucial moment.
People continued to gather around the site of the shooting to offer their condolences and support to the victims. An ambulance finally arrived and the crowd clapped, cheered and expressed strong encouragement and indignation as it pulled off to take Christine to the hospital.
Christine and I travelled with a group from Louisville that included representatives of Citizens Against Police Abuse, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and the Justice Resource Center. We came to show support for the family and community of Timothy Thomas and to demand an end to police brutality and murder.
As I finish this account, Christine is still undergoing tests at Jewish Hospital in Louisville.
There was a widespread sense of disbelief and outrage immediately following the shooting. It is personally the most frightening thing I have ever experienced. It was totally clear that the police only had one purpose in mind: to terrify and injure unarmed, peaceful citizens.

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