Daily Times

MIAMI – A white police officer in Alabama was charged with murder Wednesdy after the fatal shooting an African American man that activists say is the latest case of racially-charged police brutality in the US.

Aaron Smith, a 23-year-old officer, was arrested and charged with murder, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey, who said bail had been set at $150,000.The shooting occurred last week in Montgomery, a city with a long and fraught racial history dating back to the civil rights era of the 1960s, and even earlier.

Smith on Thursday tried to halt 59-year-old Gregory Gunn for what the officer said was suspicious conduct. After an altercation broke out, Smith shot and killed Gunn, who was reportedly holding a stick, police said. Bailey said during a press conference that authorities “have concluded that probable cause does, in fact, exist to make an arrest in this case.”

However, he emphasized that the episode was an isolated incident and that “the arrest warrant secured against Officer Smith is in no way an indictment against the Montgomery Police Department.”