Fatal Police Shootings in 2015 Approaching 400 in U.S.

A compelling report shows that fatal police shootings is reaching nearly 400 in the nation. Kevin Allen was shot and killed by police in New Jersey for wielding a knife. And the number is just continuing to grow.

At least 385 people shot and killed by police nationwide during the first five months of this year, more than two a day, according to a Washington Post analysis.

That is more than twice the rate of fatal police shootings recorded by the federal government over the past decade, a count that officials concede is incomplete.

“These shootings are grossly under­reported,” said Jim Bueermann, a former police chief and president of the Washington-based Police Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving law enforcement. “We are never going to reduce the number of police shootings if we don’t begin to accurately track this information.”

Graphic Source: Washington Post

A national debate is raging about police use of deadly force, especially against minorities. To understand why and how often these shootings occur, The Washington Post is compiling a database of every fatal shooting by police in 2015, as well as of every officer killed by gunfire in the line of duty. The Post looked exclusively at shootings, not killings by other means, such as stun guns and deaths in police custody.

Read more at the Washington Post