JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In Pennsylvania Monday, hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of Antwon Rose, a 17-year-old African-American high school senior shot and killed last week by an East Pittsburgh police officer. Video of the shooting shows the teenager was shot in the back while trying to flee police after a traffic stop. Police have admitted he was unarmed. Rose was set to graduate from high school this year. The killing has sparked several days of protest in Pittsburgh.
AMY GOODMAN: At the funeral, held at Antwon’s high school, two of his friends struggled to read a poem Antwon had written about police brutality in 2016, titled “I Am Not What You Think!” That same poem was read by a protester at an earlier demonstration.
PROTESTER: I see mothers bury their sons / I want my mom to never feel that pain / I am confused and afraid / I pretend all is fine / I feel like I’m suffocating.
AMY GOODMAN: Antwon’s parents, Michelle Kenney and Antwon Rose Sr., spoke Sunday with Good Morning America. Kenney spoke about the significance of the poem.
MICHELLE KENNEY: That’s not just a poem. That is the life of many, many young African-American males. It was just that my son wrote it down and he lost his life. My son was truly a beautiful soul. Everyone has stood up. And I’m hoping that it changes the world.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The officer who shot Antwon Rose has been identified as Michael Rosfeld. He had been sworn in to the city’s police department just hours before the shooting. According to the Post-Gazette, Rosfeld left his last job at the University of Pittsburgh police after authorities discovered discrepancies between his sworn statement and evidence in an arrest. The woman who filmed Antwon’s killing said it appeared that Rosfeld, quote, “was taking target practice on this young man’s back.”
According to The Washington Post’s database of police shootings, Antwon is one of more than 500 people who have been killed this year by police officers….