Renee Davis. Photo from Facebook
A pregnant woman was shot and killed by police officers on the reservation of the Muckleshoot Tribe of Washington Friday evening. According to the King County Sheriff's Department, two deputies fired at Renee Davis, a 23-year-old mother of three. Her sister told The Seattle Times that authorities had been called to the home to check on her well-being. “It’s really upsetting because it was a wellness check,” Danielle Bargala told the paper, which said Davis had been struggling with suicidal feelings. “Obviously, she didn’t come out of it well.” Davis was Native but news reports did not explicitly state if she was a member of the Muckleshoot Tribe. Her Facebook page indicates she attended Muckleshoot Tribal School and Muckleshoot Tribal College and once worked at the Muckleshoot Health and Wellness Center.
Native Americans are more likely to be killed by law enforcement than any other racial or ethnic group. Image from Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
The incident marks the second death this year of a Native woman at the hands of police. In January, Jacqueline Salyers, a member of the Puyallup Tribe, was shot and killed by officers in Tacoma. Overall, Native Americans are more likely to be shot and killed by police officers than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States, according to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. Just two weeks ago, Rex Vance Wilson, a Marine Corps veteran and member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, was killed in Las Vegas, Nevada. In Washington, the 2010 fatal shooting of John T. Williams, who was a First Nations citizen from Canada, by a police officer in Seattle, led to a Department of Justice investigation. Read More on the Story:
Woman fatally shot by deputies on Muckleshoot tribal land was pregnant (The Seattle Times 10/24)
Police in Wash. fatally shoot ‘suicidal’ pregnant woman they say had handgun (The Washington Post 10/24)
Woman killed in officer-involved shooting near Auburn (KOMO 10/22) Also Today:
Special Investigation by Stephanie Woodard: Native Americans Are Being Killed by Police at a Higher Rate Than Any Other Group (In These Times 10/17)
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