# Police killing protesters **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849 "2020-05-15T13:02:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/1 "2020-05-15T13:02:28Z")
Google seems to be failing me here. I’m looking for recent (say, within the past 40 years) US cases where police have killed one or more of a group of protesters. Also of interest would be cases where police made a genuine attempt to kill (e.g. shot at and hit) one or more protesters. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/2 "2020-05-15T13:13:22Z")
I assume that since you are saying 40 years ago you don’t want to[get into this one](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/us/kent-state-shooting-50th-anniversary-trnd/index.html). Some would say [Ruby Ridge](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/26/ruby-ridge-1992-modern-american-militia-charlottesville) and [Waco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege) were protest against the government. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/3 "2020-05-15T13:16:05Z")
If you meant to include outside the U.S. then [shooting of Patrick Chow](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/23/asia/hong-kong-protester-shot-intv-intl-hnk/index.html) in Hong Kong maybe fits the criteria. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/4 "2020-05-15T13:18:06Z")
How about in [Thailand](https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/26/world/asia/thailand-protests/index.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/5 "2020-05-15T13:20:29Z")
Sorry, only now noticed the OP said “US cases”. ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/6 "2020-05-15T13:27:24Z")
we recently celebrated anniversary of Kent State killings, but that was more than 40 years ago ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/7 "2020-05-15T13:28:38Z")
sorry, I should have specified that shooting was National Guard, not police ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/8 "2020-05-15T15:36:40Z")
[Moderating] Just a pre-emptive friendly reminder that this is GQ, not GD. The OP is looking for a list of such incidents, not judgements about them or the like. Everyone’s fine so far; I just want to make sure it stays that way. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/9 "2020-05-17T03:49:48Z")
I was looking for the Bundy protestor shot in Oregon while evading marshals. LaVoy Finicum ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/10 "2020-05-17T04:49:10Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I was looking for the Bundy protestor shot in Oregon while evading marshals. > > LaVoy Finicum He was not shot while engaged in a protest, which is what the OP is looking for. He was stopped for at a roadblock, and shot when he apparently went for his gun. It was more suicide by cop than “police killing protesters.” ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/11 "2020-05-17T17:04:19Z")
> [@fedman](#): > > … that shooting was National Guard, not police There was little practical difference in that cae. For this discussion, lethal force by any “police-like” organization should count. ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/12 "2020-05-18T13:20:04Z")
> [@fedman](#): > > we recently celebrated anniversary of Kent State killings, but that was more than 40 years ago \*commemorated ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/13 "2020-05-18T23:30:56Z")
And looking at the previous 40 years encompasses American administrations of both parties. I find the dearth of cites comforting. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/14 "2020-05-18T23:46:11Z")
I cannot think of any shootings against protestors off the top of my head from the last 40 years…in the US such things are rare (Kent State…probably worker protests in the early 1900’s). But, that does not mean the police don’t get aggressive and violent towards protestors in the US now…[they certainly do.](https://www.google.com/search?q=occupy+wall+street+pepper+spray&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS868US868&sxsrf=ALeKk02YbsiCu78vEyanx0pXrJ4ycFDeOA:1589845347415&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjjmbi5y77pAhVSWs0KHT_6DC8Q_AUoAXoECBIQAw&biw=2560&bih=1329) They just use means short of shooting them. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/15 "2020-05-20T04:59:45Z")
I think it was the ending of the movie “Billy Jack” that had a scroll of all the protesters killed by police or national guard while protesting the Vietnam War and racial injustice - and only the first entry, Kent State was real. As far as I could tell at the time, the rest were just fiction. I would imagine the blow-back from Kent State was that firing live rounds directly into a crowd was not likely to be glossed over. Every bit of training says the police only shoot if they see a threat of serious injury from an armed assailant. I haven’t heard of rock-throwers reaching that category yet. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/16 "2020-05-20T05:27:59Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > …in the US such things are rare (Kent State…probably worker protests in the early 1900’s). [They weren’t rare at all up until the 1940s or so.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_United_States_labor_disputes)Many workers were killed by police and the National Guard during early labor struggles, and many more by company guards, anti-union mobs, the KKK, and others. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/17 "2020-05-20T18:06:52Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I think it was the ending of the movie “Billy Jack” that had a scroll of all the protesters killed by police or national guard while protesting the Vietnam War and racial injustice - and only the first entry, Kent State was real. As far as I could tell at the time, the rest were just fiction. > > I would imagine the blow-back from Kent State was that firing live rounds directly into a crowd was not likely to be glossed over. Every bit of training says the police only shoot if they see a threat of serious injury from an armed assailant. I haven’t heard of rock-throwers reaching that category yet. The beginning of The Trial of Billy Jack had a listing of three real incidents and 1 fictional. The fictional incident was the basis of the movie. The three listed incidents were the Orangeburg Massacre, the Jackson State shooting in 1970 and the 1972 shooting at Southern State University. Two of those incidents fit the OP (except for the 40 year part). The Jackson St incident was more of a riot than a protest by my cursory glance at it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/18 "2020-05-20T19:53:22Z")
Even if police don’t shoot protestors any more, that doesn’t mean they don’t kill them. I can envision a situation where police use tasers, beanbag rounds, water hoses, tear gas, or other usually-nonlethal measures against protesters, and a protester dying as a direct result (there’s a reason why the police refer to such measures as “less lethal”, rather than “nonlethal”). Though whether that’s actually happened since 1980, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/19 "2020-05-20T23:11:59Z")
Not sure that this would count as a protest but the police killed people during the Rodney King riots. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849/20 "2020-05-21T04:15:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The beginning of The Trial of Billy Jack had a listing of three real incidents and 1 fictional. The fictional incident was the basis of the movie. > > The three listed incidents were the Orangeburg Massacre, > the Jackson State shooting in 1970 and the 1972 shooting at Southern State University. Two of those incidents fit the OP (except for the 40 year part). The Jackson St incident was more of a riot than a protest by my cursory glance at it. Interesting - the other two I had not heard of before. Thanks. but if memory serves me, the first movie (or rather, previous movie) ended with a fairly extensive list of such incidents. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-killing-protesters/853849.md?page=2)