It can happen to you.

It was May 16th, 2010 just after midnight, when things for the Jones family took a turn for the worst. Aiyana Jones was peacefully sleeping on the living room couch with her grandmother when the windows of the house were shattered as a concussion grenade was unexpectedly thrown in and landed on the couch right next to Aiyana. Out of pure reflex Aiyana’s grandmother dove to the floor and tried pulling Aiyana to safety. But not before she was fatally shot to death. Aiyana was 7 years old. The man behind the gun? Fourteen year police veteran Joseph Weekley. The officers raided the wrong house in attempt to find their actual suspect, despite several warnings that the man they were looking for lived in one apartment, while an innocent family with children lived in the other. Realizing they made a huge mistake, the swat team quickly conjured up a plan to blame the shooting on Aiyana’s grandmother, saying she tried to grab the officer’s weapon during the raid which caused him to lose control of the weapon. Policestateusa.com, a journalism media outlet says that during the trial the jury couldn’t reach a united decision and all charges were dropped (policestateusa.com.)

7 year old, Aiyana Jones.

Though these things mostly happen at high rates in certain cities, none of us are exempt from potentially becoming a victim of police violence. It happens everywhere, every day, including some cities and states near Boone. These types of crimes can happen to any one of us. Gay, straight, young or old. White, black, Puerto Rican or Asian. It’s important that we are informed of what these things look like so we can help come up with solutions to end it. So the next time you see a case of police violence on TV and think to yourself, “that’ll never happen to me,” think again. Because I’m sure 7 year old Aiyana Jones didn’t think it would happen to her either.