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Lawyer: Man asleep when police fired on house, killing him
https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2020/03/lawyer-man-asleep-when-police-fired-on-house-killing-him/
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man was asleep in his bedroom when police opened fire from outside his house, killing him and wounding his girlfriend, an attorney for the 21-year-old man’s family said Friday.
The Montgomery County Police Department said in a news release Friday that Duncan Socrates Lemp “confronted” police and was shot by one of the officers early Thursday. Rene Sandler, an attorney for Lemp’s relatives, said an eyewitness gave a “completely contrary” account of the shooting. She said police could have “absolutely no justification” for shooting Lemp based on what she has heard about the circumstances.
“The facts as I understand them from eyewitnesses are incredibly concerning,” she told The Associated Press.
The warrant that police obtained to search the Potomac home Lemp shared with his parents and 19-year-old brother doesn’t mention any “imminent threat” to law enforcement or the public, Lemp’s relatives said in a statement released Friday by their lawyers. Nobody in the house that morning had a criminal record, the statement adds.
“Any attempt by the police to shift responsibility onto Duncan or his family, who were sleeping when the police fired shots into their home, is not supported by the facts,” the statement says.
A police department spokesman didn’t immediately respond to the statements by the family or their lawyer.
The department’s news release on Friday says tactical unit members were serving a “high-risk” search warrant around 4:30 a.m. when one of the unit’s officers fatally shot Lemp. Police detectives recovered three rifles and two handguns from the home. Lemp was prohibited from possessing firearms, police said.
“Detectives were following up on a complaint from the public that Lemp, though prohibited, was in possession of firearms,” the release says without elaborating.
Sandler said the family believes police fired gunshots, not a flashbang or other projectile, from outside the home, including through Lemp’s bedroom window, while he and his girlfriend were sleeping. Nobody in the home heard any warnings or commands before police opened fire, she said.
“There is no warrant or other justification that would ever allow for that unless there is an imminent threat, which there was not,” Sandler said.
The police department’s news release says the “facts and circumstances of the encounter” are still under investigation. Prosecutors from neighboring Howard County will review the evidence at the conclusion of the investigation.
“An established agreement between the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office stipulates that when an officer-involved shooting involving injury or death occurs in one county, the other county’s State’s Attorney’s Office will review the event,” police said.
Lemp was Caucasian, according to Sandler. She did not know the race of the unidentified officer involved in the shooting because she said the officers were wearing masks. The officer was placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure after police shootings.
Sandler said Lemp’s grief-stricken family is traumatized. Their statement says they intend to “hold each and every person responsible for his death.”
“We believe that the body camera footage and other forensic evidence from this event will support what Duncan’s family already knows, that he was murdered,” the statement says.
Lemp worked as a software developer and was trying to raise money for a startup company, according to friends and co-workers.
“He was a talented, smart guy. Super nice. Didn’t deserve to get shot,” said Samuel Reid, whose Canadian software company employed Lemp as an independent contractor.
Tsolmondorj Natsagdorj, 24, of Fairfax, Virginia, said he met Lemp in 2016 and bonded with him over their shared interest in cryptocurrency. They also talked about politics. He described Lemp as a libertarian who frequented the 4chan and Reddit message boards, sites popular with internet trolls.
“Duncan was a young guy with a bright future as an entrepreneur,” Natsagdorj said. “We was working on things to change the world.”
On social media accounts that friends said belonged to him, Lemp’s username was “YungQuant.” On an internet forum called “My Militia,” someone who identified himself as Duncan Lemp, of Potomac, and posted under the username “yungquant” said he was “an active III%’r and looking for local members & recruits.” That’s an apparent reference to the Three Percenters, a wing of the militia movement. The group’s logo, the Roman numeral “III,” has become popular with anti-government extremists, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
On his Instagram account, Lemp recently posted a photograph that depicts two people holding up rifles and included the term “boogaloo,” slang used by militia members and other extremists to describe a future civil war in the U.S.
Friends said they never heard Lemp espouse any anti-government rhetoric. Sandler said Lemp was not a part of any anti-government or militia-type group.
“He was pro-America and supported wholeheartedly all the protections of the Constitution,” she said.
Copyright © 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
It appears that the youngster went online, and inquired into joining one of the militias - so the police raided his hime and killed him.
Odd, all the millions of Americans who own guns, but never kill anyone. But, the cops who can be "trusted" manage to kill people routinely. Kill them while they sleep, officer, it's safest.
BTW - this is Maryland. The state where the cops run your plates while rolling down the highway, and if you are a registered gun owner, they will pull you over to search your vehicle.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/30/gun-owners-fear-maryland-cops-target-them-for-traf/
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @11:14PM (23 children)
Another mass shooting prevented! Well done, public safety officers! Go find another!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @11:29PM (22 children)
Good liberal thinking: just kill anyone who doesn't think like you do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @12:46AM (5 children)
Do unto others before . . . not just thinking different, criminally violent thinking!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @12:51AM (4 children)
Oh, that's so much better. Only kill people for having criminally violent thoughts. That works well for you, if you get to define "criminal" and "violent".
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @12:58AM (3 children)
Just society "standing its ground". 2nd Amendment Right to armed self-defense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @07:34AM (2 children)
"Well regulated Militia", aka, "cops". So much for your alt-right revolution.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @06:42PM (1 child)
"Well regulated Militia"
No, the people! Their right to form "well regulated" militias in order to protect the free state AND the right to bear arms shall NOT be infringed! It couldn't be more simple!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @07:29PM
Yes? We are the people, the police are our officers. You have a problem with that? Then you might just be an enemy of the people, and need to be dis-armed, possibly dismembered. Maybe drawn-and-quartered.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday March 14 2020, @01:35AM (6 children)
That whole area is owned by Grand Emperor for Life Baraq Hussein Soetoro's goon squads, and people have a way of dying accidentally when Soetoro and Hillary get involved. Not a wise move on their part to summarily execute, though, considering the impending boogaloo looming in Virginia.
(Score: 2, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Saturday March 14 2020, @01:44AM (5 children)
“You got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” Biden told The New York Observer. “I mean, that’s a storybook.”
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @07:12AM (4 children)
He was born in Hawaii Nei, you fuckin' Haole!
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Saturday March 14 2020, @08:24AM (3 children)
So, what are you trying to say? African Americans born on the continent can't be clean, or intelligent, or nice looking, or possess any of the other virtues? Only island born neegroes can be all of that? So . . . we need more Haitians? But, only if they pass our special brand of pre-crime testing.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @09:28AM
I am saying you are a racist turd. Own it, Runaway1956! Fess up! You are a cracker racist motherfucking rightwing nutjob ex-truck driver. That is what you are. To deny this, you have to change. With me, take the first step. Repeat after me, "Obama was the best President since Carter." Say the words slowly, like you mean them. Ok? Success? What do you mean, "Fuck me?" You certainly will not! Jesus! Put down the gun, Runaway! NOW! Bang! Bang! Bang! Three to the head, and now he's dead. Runaway never could listen to reason.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Arik on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:31PM (1 child)
"Race" in the US is really about caste. Since the castes were assigned and maintained for many years on the basis of color, and color obviously *is* genetic, there's some genetic difference between the castes, and they're thought of as colors or even "races" but the most accurate description is caste. And the traditional "african American" as you say it, by whatever synonym is fashionable at any given time, that's always been effectively the caste composed of slaves or the descendants of slaves, and the american 'racial identity' is quite naturally built around that american context.
That context does not exist in Africa. Africans who visit or immigrate to the US do not have that same identity, they have their own identities, from their own contexts, whether Yoruba or Fulani or Igbo or Maasai or Zulu or what have you. Obama is not a descendant of slaves. He is likely a descendant of slave owners on both sides; but in any event certainly not the descendant of slaves. And he has no organic connection, therefore, to the identity or the experience of that caste. But the American schooling regime has been so effective at suppressing the ability to think critically that almost no one notices this, and he gets to put on that identity like a suit of clothing when it benefits him politically.
Because we fail so completely to disentangle color and caste from the notion of race, most people look at Obama and see an "african American" simply on the basis of the color of his skin and go on to make a "racial" classification of it. In the blink of an eye, they've decided that Obama is underprivileged, he's poor because his ancestors wealth was all stolen by the blonde-haired old guy that lives under the bridge, and they start trying to arrange reparations.
This is real prejudice, it blocks those affected from apprehending the reality that's staring them straight in the face. That he is, in fact, one of the most privileged men on the planet, upper class on both sides and representing wealthy and well connected families that have been on the top, not the bottom, of history.
None of which is to criticize him personally, btw. He didn't create this insanity, he was born into it and had to adapt.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @07:32PM
I might be disagreeing with you, but I believe the comment was saying, *if you were born in the US, you're not an African-American, any more than I am a German/British-American. He's just a colored dude raised in a well to do family. Nixon and Reagan grew up poorer than Obama, and I would say they accomplished a hell of a lot more. Of course, being white, more is expected of them (oops! did I say that?) Obama's role is more like the Queen of England, totally ceremonial. Now he just exists to raise money. The *Black Whiteman, not as ugly, but just as crazy*. Sometimes the magic works...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:05PM (8 children)
You should probably learn to recognize obvious shitposting if you're going to frequent this site. I know it can be difficult what with the progressives regularly making parody and satire of them obsolete by running screaming past it but this at least was an obvious one.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by catholocism on Saturday March 14 2020, @04:53PM (7 children)
Query: Your issue with progressives is that they assume you aren't shitposting?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @09:45PM (6 children)
Nah, I'm fairly good at trolling but shitposting is an art that I rarely find inspiration enough for.
Also, you really don't sound like you know what shitposting is.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday March 14 2020, @10:36PM (5 children)
Shitposting: someone else's trolling. Trolling: your shitposting. Pull the other one 's'got bells on.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @11:10PM (4 children)
Fraid not. Shitposting: hyperbolic, satirical posting as someone with an opposing viewpoint to ridicule everyone holding said opposing viewpoint.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday March 15 2020, @01:54AM (3 children)
Wait, that's trolling! You've got it backwards, carrion fowl! And you are supposed to be the self-appointed SN expert troll? Sad, really.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday March 15 2020, @03:13AM (2 children)
No, that was trolling. Want a cookie?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Sunday March 15 2020, @06:11AM (1 child)
Yes, thank you. You should come to the Liberal side, we have cookies.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday March 15 2020, @10:36AM
I am a Liberal, ari. You progressives left that rez long ago without even noticing.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @01:35AM (8 children)
The solution to 'corrupt' police is more guns?
Why not drain the swamp of law enforcement?
(Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:01PM (7 children)
No. It's not a solution. But it is an inhibitory factor. It's what gives us time to find a solution.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:07PM (6 children)
No, it is a solution. The only solution to a never ending parade of armed bad guys is armed good guys.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday March 14 2020, @03:03PM (1 child)
Look, even in the 18th century, the Revolution was a fluke. If the Empire hadn't been so busy with France at the time it would have just been yet another rebellion slaughtered by the Empire, that happened all the time. And after, look at what happened at Antietam. Still using mostly muzzle loaders, a few early repeaters, both sides armed roughly comparable. You want to redo that, with one side armed with AR-15s, and the other using Predator drones and Abrams tanks?
Nuts to that.
The prospect of the thing is much better than the actual slaughter. The deterrence. The American Revolution showed all the other Imperial possessions that it was possible, and it showed the Empire that too. The result was massive devolution of government in Canada, Australia, and elsewhere as the Empire sought to appease them and buy their loyalty. More deterrence. The Japanese Empire never even considered trying to go past Alaska and Hawaii, in fear of the American farmboys hiding behind every blade of grass. Deterrence. Crime rates are lower than ever after everyone went "shall issue" - continuing deterrence.
But that deterrence, in regards to the Empire at least, is pretty much nil at this point. The only deterrence left in the thing, in relation to that particular government, is in the political sphere. The reason for that is simple - the Empire has sunk so much of our money into the military lately that it just pulverizes anything they point it at. If the political battle is lost, and the second amendment is repealed with sufficient popular support, armed rebellion would only result in much of America being bombed like Baghdad.
That's why the political battle simply must be won.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @03:21PM
You're assuming things that are not true for that scenario.
Most critically, you're assuming our military is the same as any tin-pot dictator's military. Our military is made up of folks who joined with the idea of defending our liberties and freedom. There is no way in hell you would ever see them in any condition but open revolt at the idea of attacking their mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers.
You're also assuming tanks and drones would be even remotely effective against an armed insurgent force that right now numbers a hundred million or so. Ask the guys in Iraq or Afghanistan how easy it is to deal with an enemy that looks exactly like a law-abiding citizen right up until they're shooting you. And that's against a force that they outnumber rather than one that outnumbers them a hundred to one.
No, there is simply no possible scenario in which the US government could militarily oppress the US people without first disarming them.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @04:19PM (1 child)
Now all you need to do is separate the "good" from the "bad".
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @09:49PM
Not especially difficult in this context. Unless you're a postmodernist wackjob. Are you?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @07:31PM (1 child)
Is this magical thinking, simplistic thinking, or just a absence of thinking? With TMB, it is always hard to tell.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @09:46PM
Nope, it's relative, so you have to let everyone be armed.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @01:47AM
Smells like gab in here! Take it somewhere else, Runaway Ammosexualis!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by RandomFactor on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:49AM (3 children)
At the age of 21 he was prohibited from possessing firearms...
Could easily be more here. If I was cynical I might suspect that the same concerned concerned citizen who got his ability to legally possess firearms restricted was also the one who put in the complaint that got him killed.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday March 14 2020, @05:19AM (2 children)
It does sound like that may be so. I'll note that the cops found weapons in the home, but nothing within the article suggests that those weapons belonged to the dead guy.
But, no matter what, shooting a man and his woman while they sleep is just way over the line. That is on par with killing infant children while they sleep next to their grandma. (I refer to the incident in which the cops tossed a concussion grenade into the infant's crib when they broke into a home.)
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @07:19AM
What? Shit? We are supposed to wake him up so he can arm the claymores and load the drum magazines into his pathetic .22 caliber assault rifle? No, better to kill him in his sleep, less risk to legitimate law enforcement officers. And as for his bitch, you lie down with alt-right militia, you wake up with dead. She was lucky. Implicated, but lucky. They should have Ruby Ridged her. The children might be able to be re-educated, but even then, it is their parents fault if they are in the line of fire. No mercy for these traitors to American! Death to the OafKeeblers and the 3%ers, and the "Base". And, hate to Runaway for being as tight with these criminals as the bitch was. No mercy any more. They deserve to die.
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:17PM
I remember once, as I was talking with one somewhat...enthusiastic...gentleman. We were discussing a bust where some poor slob got taken down and the media was going on about the guy's 'arsenal' which was about the same scale as this, a few handguns and rifles, maybe a couple hundred rounds of ammo for them.
His comment was "An arsenal?? He actually sounds like kind of a wimp."
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @03:52AM (4 children)
What do you propose to secure working people from the army of the bourgeoisie?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Saturday March 14 2020, @07:32AM (3 children)
The army of the bourgeoisie are not the bourgeoisie, they are mercenaries. So all we have to do, is point out that they will not be paid, if their masters lose the war. Instant allies. This is why Machiavelli said, never hire mercs.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:09PM
Here's the problem: Their masters absolutely will not lose the war if the mercenaries are the only ones who are armed. Gun control, yay!
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @06:40PM
By the book!
What I'm really interested in is how the ammosexual population reconciles their pocket constitutions and anti-federalist papers, which would seem to lead one to healthy suspicion of mercs, with their Trump! Trump! Trump! and thin blue line bumper stickers.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday March 14 2020, @07:47PM
Right, they are the working people!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @05:05AM (8 children)
I'm a super liberal no gun owning Californian. I still support the 2nd, there are plenty of violent assholes that can come invade your home and I believe everyone should have the ability to defend themselves.
The only requirement I believe is reasonable is gun registration and background checks.
We spend so much time trying to create legislation to solve human problems when we should be spending to make sure humans are available to help solve human problems. This goes back to the idea of capitalism and efficiency where greed pushes out safety measures and doesn't fund the human resources necessary to making sure everyone in society has the help they need. I'm not a fan of mandatory "help" which is just authoritarian bullshit in disguise, but when human safety becomes a line item in a spreadsheet we should think long and hard about how we've structured our lives.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @05:20AM (1 child)
There's good reason to avoid registration. One thing 'most' (weasel word - I want to all, is there any exception outside of completely undeveloped regions?) governments that ended up terrorizing their population did was to seize the guns. From Mao, Stalin, and Hitler (though he only banned guns for Jews) all the way to to Pol Pot - people who have visions of doing bad things to a society don't tend to like it when that society has guns. To think these sort of "bad things" could not come to be in the US is, in my opinion, myopic. A registry would enable bad actors to go door to door removing weapons, and/or imprisoning people whose arms were "lost" or "stolen".
Completely fine with background checks, but the problem is that they are mostly useless. The sort of people that go on the mass shooting sprees tend to have nearly spotless backgrounds. The people really driving the homicide rates up are the inner city gang bangers and the like. For those people, a background check would work - but it's a nonstarter. They have all the connections to get black market weapons.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @09:21AM
No registration, no background checks, no compromise. I know a guy.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday March 14 2020, @05:20AM (1 child)
Ahhhh, but we have the background checks. All those nonsense loopholes you hear about are simply lies.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @08:03AM
I know for a fact that Runaway1956 is a felon, prohibited from voting in the fine state of Arkanasas, and from owning a firearm. But he has admitted to such illegal and lawbreaking behavior right here on SoylentNews. So I suggest that all who can determine his true name and address, report the same to the FBI, the ATF, and the WTF. We cannot have criminals like this running loose on the internets and spreading Fox and NRA (common nexus: traitor Ollie North!) propaganda. And then there is the
"animal husbandry", illegal under Arkansas State Code, regardless of how much it is part of local culture.
Do you think they will wake up Runaway, when they come for him? He may not really be much of a threat, given weight, intellectual prowess, and reaction times. Probably have to shoot the dog, though. So sad.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:11PM (3 children)
Splain to me if you would how gun registration solves any problem.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:47PM (2 children)
Problem: Incomplete supremacy of state over individual
The obvious effect is that it gives the government the bulk of guns nicely listed and available for confiscation, but that's just the surface.
More important is the long view.
Requiring registration automatically criminalizes anyone with a gun that isn't registered. You can now disproportionately persecute people with registered or unregistered weapons (more arrests, more charges, longer incarceration, permanently prohibit from owning firearms, go in 'hard' when arresting people that have registered weapons, etc.) Over generations gun ownership is vilified and reduced out of simple fear of that vilification and persecution. New generations don't grow up familiar with weaponry until only the strongly negative perspective presented by the press and schools remains. Gun ownership fades away and eventually only the state has any viable means of force at its disposal.
Problem Solved.
A side effect (not of concern at the state level) is that this reinforces the supremacy of the strong over the weak at an individual level.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:52PM
That's not a bug, it's a feature.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @04:55PM
eventually only the state has any viable means of force at its disposal.
That just narrows down where you need to go "shopping".