“Aside from making sure that we keep pressure on where John Crawford III is concerned, justice has not been done for that young man yet,” McCorry said.
It is unclear who actually organized the Saturday protest, which attracted several hundred people, some from out of state. The event was marketed to local media as a Die-in that was to take place inside the store, located at 3360 Pentagon Blvd.
At least two males and one female were taken into police custody. One of the males was arrested by several police officers after he refused to get up from his seated position in the driveway of the store’s parking lot. The incident resulted in some protesters chanting, “Police are thugs!”
“I got you on video!” said one woman holding a cell phone as one of the male protesters was being handcuffed. She later lead a chant of “Back up, back up, we want freedom, freedom. All these racist-(expletive) cops, we don’t need them!”
The female was arrested after a police officer ordered her to leave an area outside the store.
The names of those arrested at Walmart had not been released as of late Saturday.
The protest also caused a major traffic jam inside the shopping plaza’s parking lot and streets surrounding the plaza.
Besides Beavercreek police, protests drew law enforcement officers from Bellbrook, Sugarcreek Twp., Kettering, Dayton, Greene Co. Sheriff’s office, Fairborn, Central State University, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Saturday’s protest came on the same day news of an armed man firing into a police cruiser, killing two New York police officers, according to the Associated Press. The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was believed to have run to a nearby subway station before committing suicide.
Several representatives from Walmart’s corporate offices were at the Beavercreek store, but refused to comment on the protests or the store’s temporary closing, which ended around 5 p.m.
Stephanie Strickland of Dayton said she was shopping when a Walmart store associate told her to leave the Beavercreek store.
“Walmart employees made us evacuate to the nearest exits because of the protesting that was going on,” Strickland said. She added that there was announcement inside about the store being under a “Code Sam.”
Roxanna Lee of Riverside said she was at a checkout station when the “Code Sam” happened.
“I had some dinner stuff, last-minute things for stocking stuffers and Christmas,” she said. “It was just employees telling us we needed to leave.”
Store employees did not use the speaker system to announce the evacuation, according to Lee, who said she was shocked by what had occurred.
Lee said she had also been shopping at this store Aug. 5, the day Beavercreek Police Sean Williams shot and killed John Crawford III of Fairfield inside the store. Crawford was holding a BB/pellet airgun rifle and was talking on a cell phone when he was shot twice.
Williams and Beavercreek Sgt. David Darkow were called to the store after Ronald Ritchie of Riverside called 911 to report that a man was waving a gun at people.
The police said Crawford was shot after he ignored orders to put down his gun, which the Ohio Attorney General’s Office had determined that he picked up from a store shelf.
Crawford’s family claims in a federal wrongful death civil lawsuit filed last week against the Beavercreek Police and Walmart that Crawford was not given enough time to respond to police instructions.
A Greene County special grand jury on Sept. 25 declined to indict Williams, who has been on personal leave since that decision. The grand jury did not name Darkow or Ritchie on the no-bill form.
“When they had the shooting I was here an hour before that with my daughter,” Lee said.
Despite the interruption, Strickland said the protests didn’t bother her.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing. Justice definitely needs to be served in this case. There are unanswered questions and it’s a terrible situation,” Strickland said.
Saturday’s protesters were made up of men and women of all ages and races.
Many carried signs that read, “Justice for John Crawford” and “Black Lives Matter.” There were the familiar chants of “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” and singing that was at times drowned out by police cruiser sirens and threats of arrests broadcast via bull horn.
At times, arguments broke out between angry Walmart shoppers waiting to go inside the store and protesters. Although there were some expletives and seemingly close confrontations, no physical altercations occurred.
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