23-year-old Christopher DeAndre Mitchell was shot and killed by Torrance, California police at a grocery store on December 9, 2018, after being accused of driving a stolen car.
The day after the fatal police shooting, Mitchell’s mother and a number of his loved ones held a demonstration outside of the department’s headquarters.
As the victim’s friends and family protested against the killing, a group of Torrance officers, including the two who fatal shot Mitchell, exchanged a series of text messages discussing the fallout, per the Los Angeles Times.
“Was going to tell you all those [N-word] family members are all pissed off in front of the station,” an officer wrote, according to court documents recently obtained by the LA Times.
The newly-reviewed court records show the officers flippantly texting about what would happen once the identities of those who opened fire against Mitchell were released to the public.
“Gun cleaning Party at my house when they release my name??” one asked.
“Yes absolutely let’s all just post in your yard with lawn chairs in a [firing] squad,” another officer responded.
The LA Times report follows the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office submitting 390 messages from Torrance officers as recent as 2020 that contained “anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic or transphobic remarks.”
According to reports, the texts were about a number of different victims of police brutality in the city.
The messages allegedly contain discussions about lynching suspects and killing Black children.
Many of the messages were redacted, as officers have attempted to suppress evidence of the texts, according to the LA Times.
The Torrance police department and a police union attorney declined to comment to The Times about the messages.
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