The online community and beyond is rallying behind the family of Stephon “Zoe” Clark, the black man who was gunned down by Sacramento, Calif., police in his own backyard.
In about a day, a GoFundMe campaign launched to help Clark’s family pay for his funeral services has raised $9,962 of a $10,000 goal ... a goal that it will likely reach, and surpass, by the end of Wednesday.
The campaign description reads:
Young loving father, grandson, son, brother, boyfriend and friend to many of us was taken from us to soon on March 18th, 2018. He was UNJUSTLY killed in cold blood by the Sacramento Police Department for the crime of being a young black male.
We are putting together this gofundme to help his grandmother give him the ceremony he deserves. Please donate what you can everything helps.
With the proper funds he can be buried next to his family.
On Sunday night, officers were responding to a report of someone breaking car windows near Clark’s home, where he lived with his grandparents and siblings. Officers surveilling from a helicopter told officers on the ground that they saw Clark pick up a “toolbar” and use it to break a window at a residence before running around to the front of the house to look into another car.
Officers went to the home, where they approached Clark, ordering him to show his hands. However, Clark turned around and started running away from police. While officers pursued, Clark allegedly turned toward them “while holding an object which was extended in front of him.”
So you know, in fear of their lives, officers opened fire, killing the young man.
However, no firearm or any weapon at all was found near Clark. The only item he had on him was his cellphone.
The officers have been placed on paid leave, and in the meantime, authorities are supposedly preparing to gather bodycam footage, as well as audio and footage from the helicopter, to release to the public.
And yet another family is left to wonder exactly how a loved one ended up dead in the streets, in a long, twisted story that makes no damn sense.