Family, friends, community organizations and well wishers gathered across the nation on Wednesday February 26th to mark the second anniversary of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a teen who would have turned 19 a couple of weeks ago on February 5th.
Even as well-wishers marked the sad occasion, another family is still in mourning over the shooting death of yet another black youth, Ricardo Sanes, who was shot and found lying face down in the grass in West Orlando on January 16th 2014.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Sanes’ killer has argued self-defense, citing the youth’s hoodie and sagging pants as a factor in his suspicion of and subsequent pursuit and shooting of Sanes.
Following the shooting death of yet another 17-year-old black boy, Jordan Davis at the hands of Michael Dunn, Colorofchange.org, an advocacy organization, launched a campaign titled “Black lives matter” to highlight these cases. The murder trial of Dunn recently concluded with a hung jury over the charge of first degree murder, although he was convicted on three lesser charges of attempted murder and shooting at a vehicle.
The parallels between the Jordan Davis/Trayvon Martin cases and the recent shooting death of Ricardo Sanes, are undeniable. However, one main difference with the 20-year-old Sanes’ killing is that his killer, Claudius Smith, is a black man.
In details obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Smith is said to have chased Sanes and even climbed over a fence to get to him, before holding him up at gunpoint. Smith claims that Sanes then reached and tried to grab his gun at which point Smith claims he shot in self-defense.
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