Gus Rugley received 36 bullets,
6 in the head
In recognition of Governmental Terrorism Month,
we had to highlight the San Francisco police execution of 21-year-old
Gustavus Rugley.
Thirty-six bullets were retrieved from his
body. No one on the police force has been indicted for his murder
or even lost their job.
Welcome to Amerikkka, ladies and gentleman, where Black people
are murdered with impunity. Check out this story from one of
Gus’ family members:
His real name is Gustavus Rugley, but we called
him Gus. He was executed on June 29, 2004, at 6:30 p.m.
Gus had been under surveillance that day from
8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. He left the house twice on foot. The third
time he left the house, I noticed that his truck was not sitting
in the front of the house.
Mr. Rugley was watched by over 20 officers –
there was the gang task force, homicide, special units and tactical
units. These are major players with M-16s and AR-15s – the
heavy artillery. They carry 30- and 60-bullet clips in their guns.
They were on a mission that day, and Gus was
just a suspect. He was never once questioned, apprehended, asked
to come to the station. As I said, he left twice that day, not
one person ever tried to stop him.
San Francisco Police have this thing that is
called the kill-time. They say at 6:30 p.m. it is rush hour, and
they need to protect the public from anyone who is doing something
erroneous – such as driving his car recklessly or doing
something that they consider crazy.
This is the streets of San Francisco, not Baghdad – a young
man, unarmed, no drugs in his system, shot 36 times, six times
in the head, by the SFPD.
But those of you who live in the city know that (the intersection
at) Alemany Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, at 6:30 p.m., is congested
with traffic both ways. There is no way that you could bob and
weave in and out of cars there.
I want to touch on the end of the chase: Gus
had given up. His hands were up in the air.
A witness, Anna Catreras, said Mr. Rugley sat
in his truck and an officer in a light blue sweatshirt walked
up, opened up the back passenger door of Gus’ vehicle and
proceeded to unload her gun. Ms. Catreras’ later said that
her statement was completely turned around in a July 2004 Chronicle
story. She never said that Mr. Rugley was shooting back.
After he was shot, the command was given for
Mr. Rugley to come out of the truck with his hands up. But he
was dead.
The whole force shot at Gustavus Rugley. His
right temple was struck, and his body on the whole right side
had bullet holes.
This is an unjustified use of a firearm in the
worst way. He was dead, and they all knew that.
What “brave” officer shot Gus at point blank range?
He couldn’t have been afraid of Gus, or he wouldn’t
be that close.
And then do you know what they said? “He was shooting at
us.”
The family got an autopsy nine and a half months
later. It took them so long to give it to Ms. Pollard because
they were hiding things. They knew public outcry was going to
be so bad that we were going to tear the city up. But we’re
not a family like that.
We just want to find out what really happened
here, and we want justice. We want justice for Gus, who is no
longer here.
I told y’all that it took nine and a half
months to give my family the autopsy report. But let’s go
back: It took almost three weeks for them to release his body
– that was another cover-up.
The autopsy report stated that there was no gunpowder
residue on the fronts or the backs of this young man’s hands
and none on his clothing. So who the hell was shooting at who?
I think that this is an injustice in the worse
way. Gustavus had 36 bullets – not 32, not 31 – but
36 bullets in him, with six being in his head. He had a temple
shot at close range and was shot from front to back, back to front,
right to left and left to right.
That’s an execution! You shouldn’t
be able to justify shooting someone like that.
They say during the chase Gus hit four of their
police cars. Even I know that if you bump a police car, they’re
going to shoot you dead on the first bump. We’re talking
about four cars hit by the end of the chase – I don’t
think so.
There was no airbag deployed, not in the police
cars or in Gus’ truck. So that is another story that they
webbed, and it’s another lie. Police will lie, lie, lie,
lie. This is a web of lies.
We’re still finding out facts, and here’s
another one: The young man that Gus is accused of killing –
Gus didn’t kill him. And even the police knew Gus didn’t
kill him. But they made him a suspect, got a $1 million warrant
and came and hunted him down like a wild piece of meat.
When Mr. Rugley was walking on the streets, before
he got to his truck, not one officer tried to apprehend him and
say, “You’re under arrest.” They baited him
to get him into his truck.
They were in unmarked cars – all the officers
were in plain clothes. No lights, no sirens. Now what kind of
high speed chase goes on with no lights and no sirens and at the
end the suspect is dead? You tell me.
It was all about an execution, and at the end
Gustavus Rugley was executed.
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