A Michigan man was killed in July, and today his family is seeking answers as to why police took his life, and why the investigation is taking so long to complete. Milton Hall, of Saginaw, was gunned down by police, following an incident in a convenience store.
Hall was surrounded by cops, before being shot upwards of 40 times. The entire incident was caught on tape by a witness.
On the video, Hall can be seen holding a knife and in a “karate stance” as he announced himself to officers. “I just called 911. My name is Milton, and I am pissed off!” he said.
When police threatened to use their attack dogs, Hall welcomed the action. “Let him go. Let him go. Let that motherf-cker go.”
Police opened fire on Hall because he was “threatening” to assault them, said Saginaw County Prosecutor Michael Thomas. An investigation has been opened by Thomas’ office which claims that Hall had a “long history” of run-ins with authorities.
Mike Washington, Hall’s cousin, acknowledged that he had had been taken to jail on minor offences but “was not violent.”
A local civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department is also looking into Hall to determine whether or not police were within their rights to shoot him so many times, when he only had a knife.
According to his mother, Jewel, Hall was receiving social security checks for his mental illness. “It appeared to be a firing squad dressed in police uniforms,” she said. “There was another way. They did not have to kill him. He had not done anything. He was not violent. He was not a murderer. He was not a criminal.”
His mother asserts that he was also well known by police, which was all the more reason not to take his life. “The police knew him well so that’s another questions: they knew him, so why? Why did they kill him?
“I’m stunned that six human beings would stand in front of one human being and fire 46 shots,” she added. “I just don’t understand that. It’s a lot of pain in that because it only takes on shot, so the question is why?”
Hall’s story is eerily similar to a New York City man who pulled out a knife and threatened to stab police and bystanders in Times Square. After refusing to drop his weapon, he was shot and killed by the NYPD.
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Photo: KPHO
