Citizens Group Emails VA Governor Demanding Independent Review of Police Shootings; Local Rescue Chaplain Calls Them Marxists

Seventeen year old Christian Sierra was fatally
shot by police in Purceville, Virginia, after the teen allegedly
lunged at cops with a knife. Police were responding to a call
asking for help with the suicidal teen.

Authorities are expected to rule on whether the shooting was
justified this moon. “We’re shooting for the end of next week if we
can coordinate with Virginia State Police and get an opportunity to
reach out to the family,” said the city’s attorney, Jim Plowman,

according to the Loudoun Times, which also reports
that an anonymous citizen’s group called “Your Citizens of Loudoun
County” sent several emails to Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) calling for
independent investigations of police shootings and mandatory crisis
training for cops.

The emails do not appear to be online—a Google search for “Your
Citizens of Loudoun County” brings up only the Times
story—but it did yield a response from Purceville’s volunteer
rescue squad chaplain, Tim Simmons, who called the emails Marxist.
The Times
reports:

In a response to the group and the Rev. Dr. Jack Stagman,
president of the nonprofit America Restored, [Simmons] called the
correspondence to the governor “the same kind of agitprop that
stoked the fires of rioting and looting, mob violence and the
tearing of the social fabric in Ferguson so recently.”

“I’m astonished you [Stagman] would associate yourself, and the
people who stand with you in local Christian leadership, with this
kind of Marxist propaganda waged against our local law enforcement
and civil structures,” Simmons said in the email, forwarded to the
Times-Mirror earlier this week. 

Sierra’s family says the officers who shot Christian did not
have crisis intervention training. Loudoun County Sheriff Mike
Chapman says the training program is voluntary, and that some cops
consider it a waste of time. While the sheriff says the training is
costly, he argues it also saves taxpayer money by reducing the
necessity of medical interventions and associated costs.

Related:
Four issues to focus on when considering police reform.