“Tape depicts elements of carver’s death.
Video shows Seattle police officer approaching Vancouver Island artist John T. Williams; audio captures warning, sound of gunshots.”
So read the headline in the GLOBE AND MAIL published December 20, 2010 and written by Ian Bailey and Brennan Clarke.
As an Aboriginal (Inuit), I have been on hunting excursions for the purpose of killing caribou, ptarmigan, geese, muskrats, seals, polar bears, wolves, and foxes. This practice, of course, consistent with culture as a means for subsistence and a way of life.
Police officers in any city, of course, carry firearms for another purpose. An Inuit Elder once said to me, “ I can’t believe people carry guns to shoot other people.”
The GLOBE goes on to say, “It was Aug. 30…Just after 4pm., John Williams was shot four times on the street by Seattle police officer Ian Birk.”
John Williams was a native wood carver from the west coast of British Columbia who had regularly carried a knife as a tool to create his intricate carvings. That August day, while his video and audio camera running, officer Birk had seen John carrying a knife and stopped his car and ran over and confronted the native artist. While the actual shooting of four shots can be heard, the video did not capture the confrontation.
“The Seattle Police department’s firearms review board as well as the city’s police chief, John Diaz, concluded in October that the shooting was not justified. The Seattle Times has reported. However, a decision on the point is on hold pending the outcome of the inquest.”
Perhaps the young officer Birk, trained to use his handgun, had that “trigger-happy” attitude and found a human target. Who knows? Hopefully, the inquest will address the unanswered questions most people in Seattle are talking about.
