Protests mark 1 yr anniversary of police shooting of Terrence Sterling

On September 11, 2016, MPD officer Brian Trainer shot and killed Terrence Sterling at 3rd and M sts NW at about 4:20 AM. One year later at the same time, protesters gathered at the same intersection demanding that Brian Trainer be fired. The first protest was a vigil from 4AM until about 9AM, at 6PM protesters returned for a march on the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and MPD headquarters

FOP was targetted because Brian Trayor called his union representative at FOP before calling paramedics to treat Terrence Sterling's bullet wound. Due to this, paramedics were delayed to the point (by not getting the call) that Trainer's union backup actually arrived first. FOP did nothing to save Terrence Sterling (they are not medics) and everything to save Ofc Brian Trainer's career. FOP was also targetted because their behavior concerning the murder of Terrence Sterling is their usual behavior whenever police shoot someone. As protesters said, they are truly the "deadliest fraternity."

After the protest at FOP, marchers descended on MPD headquarters, demanding that Brian Trainer be fired and also saying "Bounce Bowser" demanding the Mayor also be removed. Many vowed to vote for those who run against her, noting that Mayor Bowser's FreshPAC gets its money from developers and represents those who benefit from police brutality. After all, the systematic expulsion of people of color from the city does not take place in a vacuum, it's to clear the way for more condos, more dog parks, more yoga studios, and more upscale white Bowser voters with $100,000 a year plus incomes.

As for the police themselves, the historical fact that US police agencies descended from slave catchers was brought up multiple times. MPD's persecution of DisruptJ20 (Trump Inauguration) protesters was also condemned by one of the speakers. From slave-catchers enforcing white supremacy to MPD and US Park Police enforcing white supremacy at the hands of Trump to the MPD "gun recovery unit" wearing "powershift" white supremacy T-shirts in court, some things never seem to change.The same is true of the US attorney's office, where killer cops like Brian Trainer are not indicted after they murder someone, but over 200 people have been indicted for standing on the same block where someone was allegedly breaking windows on Jan 20.

Video of the evening march to FOP and MPD headquarters