Christa Kay Markwell died in Lubbock, Texas, on November 15, 2020, following an encounter with the Lubbock police. The manner of death is listed as homicide (including justifiable homicide). The custodial death report also shows that law enforcement personnel caused the pre-custodial death.

A recent article in a major newspaper in the US claims that 910 people have died in police shootings in the last year. The newspaper has been keeping a log of every fatal police shooting in the nation. They began keeping the record after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

The data collected by the newspaper relies primarily on police reports, news accounts, and postings in social media. Over the course of five years, the data collected shows consistency in the number of fatal police shootings, the circumstances surrounding the shootings, and the overall demographics of the victims.

Although unpredictable events result in fatal police shootings, every year about 1,000 people are killed by the police. The report prepared by the newspaper shows that about 50% of the people shot by police are Caucasian, but black Americans are shot at an unequal rate. Although black Americans make up less than 13% of the US population, they are killed by police at more than twice the rate of Caucasians. They assert that Hispanic Americans are killed at an unequal rate, as well.

Learn more in this ongoing series.

Suggesting that a person or organization has been participating in wrongdoing is never intended on this website. The intent of posts on this site is to help inmates now or formerly incarcerated in a county jail in the state of Texas.

–Guest Contributor