Did he commit suicide by cop?

    Multiple investigations begin to piece together the death of Jeremy McDole.

    Here is John Watson’s commentary:

    I find it extremely difficult to ask the question, “Did he, 28-year-old Jeremy McDole, commit suicide by cop?”

    But eyewitness information seems to prove that’s what happened.

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    The Wilmington Police report receiving a 911 call from a woman about a man in a wheelchair who had shot himself up at Tulip and South Scott Street. I listened to the NewsWorks audio report of her begging the police to please hurry, call an ambulance, he needs help, because of the self-inflicted wound.

    The police say when they arrived and called for him to drop his gun – a gun they found after shooting and killing him – he refused to obey. They obviously had no choice because he might shoot and kill them.

    It’s reported that police found a 38-caliber gun at McDole’s side after the shooting. The family continues to say he had no gun. It’s understandable that he would not let them know about it. But one can understand ending it all after being shot in the back at 18 years old and paralyzed ten years in a wheelchair.

    One of my brothers committed suicide, after years of having to have his lungs bumped dry from time to time. Finally one day he told the hospital not to do it anymore. We tried to convince the hospital not to listen to him, but they said he was an adult and they had to follow his orders. What would I do in similar circumstances?

    I don’t know.

    Mr. McDole is a black man, and will have Investigators from the Delaware Department of Justice and Wilmington Police, along with many others, looking into what happened to him.

    The Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust is also involved, conducting its investigation separate from the Wilmington Police, which is standard after a police shooting. Wilmington Mayor Dennis P. Williams, Delaware NAACP and other Civil Rights Organization are also involved.

     John Watson is a long time observer of Wilmington and Delaware from his perch as a radio talkshow host. You can write him: JohnWatson1506@comcast.net

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