Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, working in collaboration with Congressman Hank Johnson and Congresswoman Marsha Fudge, released the following statement today requesting the U.S. Department of Justice to provide a congressional briefing on the investigation of the senseless killing of Ahmaud Arberry in Glynn County, Georgia and Breonna Taylor who was killed by Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Police Department officers and take all appropriate actions to ensure their constitutional, civil, and legal rights are vindicated. Congresswoman Jackson Lee previously requested the Department of Justice by letter to open investigations into each of these cases and also a hate crime investigation into the Ahmaud Arberry case.

“I call upon the Department of Justice to take appropriate action and provide a congressional briefing in connection with the investigation into the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year old African American male from Glynn County, Georgia, who was hunted down by the father and son duo of Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael, and shot to death on February 23, 2020 by Travis McMichael while he was peaceably on an exercise run in the Satilla Shores area of Glynn County on Sunday afternoon, February 23, 2020. Gregory McMichael is a former police detective and district attorney investigator in Brunswick, Georgia. The killers inexplicable remained unapprehended, unquestioned, and unsuspected for more than two months, until May 7, when the public release of the video of their killing of Ahmaud Arbery was released and viewed by millions across the country and around the world who were horrified by what they saw. Since the Congreswoman’s DOJ request for an investigation, the man who recorded the fatal shooting, William “Roddie” Bryan, Jr., has been arrested.

I also call upon the Department of Justice to conduct an immediate investigation, provide a congressional briefing, and take appropriate action in connection with the investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed 26-year old African American woman and emergency room technician whose exceptional work performance as a first responder was essential during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, who was killed when she was struck by a hail of bullets fired by officers of the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD) at 12:43 a.m. on the morning of March 23, 2020 during a botched and highly questionable raid of her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. I requested in my letter to DOJ that all charges should be dropped against her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, and I am glad to see that Louisville prosecutors have agreed to reverse their charges.

“The strength and foundation of democratic government rests upon the consent and confidence of the governed. Similarly, effective enforcement of the law and administration of justice requires the confidence of the community that the law will be enforced impartially and that all persons are treated equally without regard to race or ethnicity or religion or national origin.

“While most law enforcement officials take this responsibility seriously and strive to treat all persons equally and with respect, their efforts are too often undermined by some of their colleagues who abuse the enormous trust and confidence placed in them. Remedial action should be taken with respect to officers whose conduct has been determined, after an adjudicatory proceeding, to violate applicable legal standards.

“In recent months, the nation has been repeatedly shocked by the killings of unarmed African Americans, mainly young African American males, by persons claiming, despite substantial and credible evidence to the contrary, that the use of lethal force was justified. The tragic killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky is just the latest example. Other notorious examples include the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; in Stephon Clark in Sacramento, California, ; and Eric Garner, an asthmatic 43-year old father of six and grandparent, in Staten Island, who died from an unlawful chokehold administered by a New York Police Department officer who suspected Mr. Garner of selling an untaxed pack of cigarettes.

“Closer to home, we all remember the outrageous case involving young Robbie Tolan, who was shot and seriously injured by a white Bellaire Police Department officer while in the driveway of his home, 15 to 20 feet away from the officer, had committed no crime, and whose innocence had been affirmed to the officer by his mother and father.

“According to the FBI’s most recent accounts of ‘justifiable homicide,’ in the last several years, a white police officer used deadly force against an African American person almost two times every week. Of those African American persons killed, 18 percent, or nearly one in every five, was under 21 years of age. In contrast, only 8.7 percent of white persons killed by police officers were younger than 21.

“Houston has an African American population of 23.7 percent but in 2012 African Americans accounted for 48% percent of victims killed by the police. Chicago was even worse with a whopping 91% of police killings involving an African American victim, nearly three times their percentage of the city’s population. For New York, the comparable figures were 87% and 2836 percent. Across the country, in 2012 there were 739 justifiable homicide shootings by police and citizens and of these, 313 of the victims (42.35%) were African American.

“This cannot and must not continue. That is why I am renewing my request to Attorney General Barr that in addition to investigating the killing of Breonna Taylor, the Department of Justice should also launch a nationwide review of problematic law enforcement departments and take appropriate action to ensure there is a zero tolerance policy when it comes to patterns or practices of official misconduct.

“As Americans we must demand that the law is applied fairly and equally to all persons in the courtroom and on the street. Achieving this goal is the best way to honor the memory of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.