Posted on 05/31/2020 3:58:13 PM PDT by grundle
RICHMOND, Va. -- Rioters blocked a fire truck from responding to a burning home early Sunday morning in Richmond, according to Richmond Police Chief Will Smith.
“Protesters intentionally set a fire to an occupied building on Broad Street. This is not the only occupied building that has been set fire to over the last two days. But they prohibited us from getting on scene,” Smith said. “We had to force our way to make a clear path for the fire department. Protestors intercepted that fire apparatus several blocks away with vehicles and blocked that fire department’s access to the structure fire. Inside that home was a child.”
Smith’s voice filled with emotion as he recounted the event during a Sunday morning press conference.
“Officers were able to help those people out of the house. We were able to get the fire department there safely,” he said before pausing to regain his composure. ”When you take a legitimate issue and hijack it for unknown reasons, that is unacceptable to me. It's unacceptable to the Richmond Police Department and unacceptable to the City of Richmond.”
The fire that Chief Smith detailed was reported along the 300 block of West Broad Street early Sunday morning.
Peaceful Protest Hijacked by Bad Actors
The hijacking to which Chief Smith referred was the actions of rioters whose behavior went beyond the peaceful protests organized following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“We have people from across the country who have traveled many states to be here. We know that this is an organized effort,” Chief Smith said. “We're committed to try and identify those that are behind it. And we're doing our very level best to arrest those that are perpetrating the violence on our community, our city, and against our citizens.”
The mayor also addressed the issue.
“Peaceful protests in solidarity against the injustices of black men hijacked by bad actors. As soon as you loot a store or set a public bus on fire, you're not demonstrating. You've made it about you,” Mayor Stoney said. "When you block law enforcement from allowing fire services to get to a home that has caught on fire. You are not inspiring change. When you knock out windows of businesses that had nothing to do with this, you are not inspiring change. That's an insult to the cause.”
Chief Smith said the physical violence reported in Richmond, including a Sunday morning shooting, has been protestor on protestor violence.
“The man shot last night was shot by a protestor,” he said. “We've had a number of people that have been injured by thrown bottles, rocks, bricks, everything that you can imagine, thrown by other protesters. As the mayor said, our protest has started out peacefully every single night with respectful people voicing their legitimate concerns. We've been able to facilitate them in their First Amendment rights, but it hasn't taken too long each night before actors have taken over the protest and have changed the tone.”
Anyone with information on the shooting in Richmond was asked to call Major Crimes Detective D. Cuffley at 804-646-6795 or Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000.
This is a developing story.
Arson with attempted murder, charge them and those who incited their violence
SPJNK.
Dropped on sight.
I’m so speechless with anger right now. So many innocent people are being harmed and murder in their dam fake social justice crap. They don’t give a dam crap about Mr. Floyd.
Well, as long as the police keep allowing them to get away with this shit they’ll keep doing it.
Any Governor whose state is under attack should announce that citizens protecting their homes or businesses will not be prosecuted for shooting trespassers. See how long the looting lasts after that.
This is all planned. . .out of chaos comes control and loss of liberty . . .and then the Bible warns us . . .the anti-Christ. Last days stuff IMHO.
The old “hijacked” excuse. It goes with “an otherwise peaceful protest.”
Why doesn’t the Governor of VA declare a State Emergency and ban any crowds of more than 12 to be in public for whatever the reason? Why doesn’t he take back the streets?
They blocked the fire engine? The fire engine is bigger. Run them down with the fire engine.
Driving over people intentionally endangering lives is legal in most states, right?
What unmitigated BS...
This POS is responsible for the crowds actions because he didn't stop the riots at their beginnings...
The citizens of this new 3rd-world country, VA, are responsible because they voted and voted and voted for these types of actions and the excuses for them...
The only way to save VA and return it to the U.S. would be to fire-bomb both Richmond and Fairfax County... It worked fine in Dresden and Tokyo...
A gangrenous leg often needs to be amputated to save the patient's life... Cancerous tumors usually need to excised...
The U.S. may be on it's deathbed... Time to do something about it... Certainly words will do nothing about it...
The second the Democrats thought these riots were costing them, they would end.
This is just Democrat leaders buying support with other people’s goods and money.
“Take all you want and remember to vote Democrat! See, Dave! We don’t need to raise taxes to buy votes. We let those Target customers in Iowa buy our votes for us.”
I get your point but my daughter lives in Richmond.
Maybe some precision guided stuff?
Guess the police don’t know what a street sweeper is or how to use it when faced with an in progress murder of a child.
Doesn’t the fire apparatus have a high pressure hose?
When do we take the attitude that you’ve been given numerous opportunities to peacefully protest, you’ve failed at that. You can’t control your people therefore will be no more protest allowed for this incident. If you come to the streets you will be arrested for unlawful assembly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.