Last Thursday, Andrew "Tekle" Sundberg tried to kill a woman and her two children, and when they were taken to safety, he tried to kill the police.  Eventually, the police killed Sundberg, at which point BLM moved in and started accusing the police of committing a racist murder.  Where this predictable little show took an unexpected turn was when the woman who was almost killed along with her children challenged the protest, only to have the protesters dismiss her.  Facts were irrelevant; she didn't fit the narrative.

Arabella Foss-Yarbrough, a Black woman (not that her race should matter), was in her apartment Wednesday night with her two children, when Sundberg, who had been harassing her for months, fired multiple bullets into her apartment.  Foss-Yarbrough called 911, and police were able to move her and her children to a safe place.  Deprived of his original victims, Sundberg began to fire on the police.  Eventually, after a six-hour standoff with a man who had shown his willingness to kill, snipers finally killed Sundberg.  As for Foss-Yarbrough, she cannot get into her home and has lost her job.

Practically within minutes, BLM was on the scene.  It was the usual complaint.  Sundberg wasn't a bad guy, despite harassing Foss-Yarbrough for months, and then trying to kill her, her children, and the police.  He was having a "mental health crisis."  He would never have been killed if he had been a White man.

Maybe I'm heartless, but it seems to me that when you've proven that you're an imminent and uncontrollable threat, mental health crisis or not, there's a really good chance that the police will conclude that they can protect other people's lives only by disabling you with a bullet.  And the rule of police shooting is that, once you make that decision, you must shoot to kill.  A wounded criminal is every bit as dangerous as a wounded predatory animal, especially if the criminal is hopped up on drugs or insanity.

What makes this story unusual is that Foss-Yarbrough took umbrage at BLM's attempt to turn Sundberg's death into the usual narrative of police brutality against an innocent Black man struggling with mental health problems:

"This is not a George Floyd situation. George Floyd was unarmed. This is not okay," Foss-Yarbrough was seen yelling at a group of protesters on Saturday. "He tried to kill me in front of my kids."

[snip]

"My kids have to deal with this and probably have a mental illness now because they almost lost their lives," she said. "There's bullet holes in my kitchen because he sat in the f–king hallway watching me move. He tried to kill me in front of my kids."

Things boiled over during Saturday’s rally and march for Tekle Sundberg, when the 24 year old woman who says he was shooting into her apt. showed up voicing her frustration with those gathering in front of her building on Sundberg’s behalf. @kare11 * video contains profanity * pic.twitter.com/qdi1vbgO7k

— Deevon Rahming (@DeevonRahming) July 16, 2022

To their great credit, Sundberg's parents expressed sympathy for Foss-Yarbrough's experience, but others were less kind.  The fact that an innocent woman and her children were almost murdered was of less importance than mourning the almost inevitable death of a crazed man determined to kill.

The one area that definitely deserves inquiry is that Sundberg's parents contend that the police prevented them from talking to their son, something they say would have made a difference and, indeed, ended the standoff in minutes.  As it is, until the police release the bodycams, we don't know exactly what happened.  What we do know is that the BLM protesters, and execrable ambulance-chaser Benjamin Crump, couldn't wait for the body to get cold before they were on the move, doing what they can to turn America's cities into hellholes, with unconstrained criminals and absent or apathetic police.

And here's an interesting side note about the public response to two different GoFundMe campaigns, one to honor Sundberg and the other to help Foss-Yarbrough.  As of this writing, Sundberg's had raised $19,775 out of a requested $20,000, thanks to 404 donations. Meanwhile, Foss-Yarbrough's had raised $43,575 on an original request of $10,000, with 988 donations.  Maybe people are trying to say something about the proper priorities for criminal and victim. 

Image: Arabella Foss-Yarbrough takes on BLM.  Twitter screen grab.