A journalist and advocate who rose from homelessness and addiction to serve as a spokesperson for Philadelphia’s most vulnerable was shot and killed at his home early Monday, police said.

Josh Kruger, 39, was shot seven times at about 1:30 a.m. and collapsed in the street after seeking help, police said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later. Police believe the door to his Point Breeze home was unlocked or the shooter knew how to get in, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. No arrests have been made and no weapons have been recovered, they said.

Authorities haven’t spoken publicly about the circumstances surrounding the killing.

  • irotsoma@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I mean there’s an official FBI report that says it white nationalists have infiltrated police departments and another that says they use their influence to prevent convictions of domestic violence perpetrated by white nationalists. Additionally there are plenty of reports in multiple cities to show that cops often plant evidence to convict people of crimes they didn’t commit in order to aid their career. And the victims are almost always black, usually mentally disabled, and often homeless or home-insecure. So it’s not a stretch.

    And I’m not talking about a conspiracy outside of the already proven idea that white nationalists have infiltrated police departments and alter evidence. One cop altering evidence for his buddies isn’t a conspiracy.

    And the only thing that could be considered a “theory”/hypothesis is that this was a targeted killing, rather than a random one like the media are already painting it as. And that the police will push that scenario and refuse to investigate white nationalist groups to see which ones sent him threats. We’ll just have to wait and see on that. I suppose it depends on if any witnesses or others go to the media with evidence.

    • jasory@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      “Cops often plant evidence to get convictions”- Police don’t prosecute, get your conspiracy theories straight.

      “This was a targeted killing”

      It almost certainly was, the victim was involved in drugs and probably knew violent people and kept in touch with them.

      The real case is far more likely to be “reformed drug addict killed by former acquaintance”, than “journalist killed for reporting issues”.

      • irotsoma@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I didn’t say cops prosecute. But if they arrest someone and there’s no evidence, they don’t get credit for catching a criminal, just for throwing an innocent person in jail and that looks bad. So they plant evidence so that anyone they arrest gets convicted and sometimes so the real perpetrator doesn’t. It’s all very well documented. Just no one will arrest them for it since they are mostly all doing the same or have allowed it to happen without doing anything about it.

        • jasory@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          Again, no. Cops can detain and investigate without making a formal arrest or bringing someone to jail. If it is questionable circumstances, then they will simply take statements and go for an arrest later.

          There actually is a circumstance where police are incentivised to plant evidence, and that’s if you have a problematic individual (someone who gets the police called on them regularly), and planting evidence of a more serious crime would remove them from the street.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      You make a long of strong claims that require a lot of strong evidence and sources

      i know there are incidents, but the US has 300.000.000 people living there, it’s a guarantee that you’re going to have assholes.

      You claim it’s structural, that there are groups conspiring together to get this done. That is a big, big claim that better not come from a Facebook page.

      Mind linking that FBI report?

      • irotsoma@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I mean the report itself is not available to the public. There was a bulletin sent to police departments that was heavily redacted when released. This was like 15 years ago. Lots of other information has been released over time. The bulletin itself I couldn’t find with a quick Google search, but there is a lot of information about it that you can use Google to find. That’s not my job to prove. It’s not a small amount of info. So Google it. Here’s a link to get you started.

        https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fbi-white-supremacists-in-law-enforcement