I am deeply shocked and stunned by the shooting of the 16-year-old boy from Senegal by the Dortmund police.

Once again, I grieve with the Black community in Germany for one who was taken from us far too young. My condolences go especially to the parents and all those close to the boy.

On Monday, August 8, 2022, a police operation was called in after a caregiver at a youth welfare facility in Dortmund called the police. The employee had noticed that the boy, who wanted to spend the night in the facility, was carrying a knife. When the police then arrived, the youth showed by his gestures that he may have been in psychological distress. What happens next illustrates once again that the police are not adequately trained to deal with such situations and raises the issue of anti-black racism:

The 16-year-old is shot dead by a 29-year-old emergency officer with five shots from an MP5 submachine gun. How can this be?

Once again we see a police operation that is completely out of control - once again a Black person dies from police gunfire.

Why was a submachine gun used? How is it possible that not a single warning shot was fired when eleven officers were armed?

Why did the police target the boy's upper body six times (five of the 6 shots were distributed throughout the upper body: jaw, arm, shoulder, abdomen) and not the legs? What methods do police have for communicating with people in mental distress that do not involve firearms? Were there attempts to communicate in a language the boy understood? Why was no one called in who spoke French, the official language of his home country? Why were 11 police officers unable to subdue a young man and bring him to the ground? Why did they not hesitate to fire a submachine gun, an automatic weapon?

Are inhibition thresholds to violence crossed more quickly as soon as a person with Black skin color is involved? What is known about anti-Black racism in the Dortmund police? Are there anti-racism trainings at the police in NRW?