Students band together with community groups to demand justice and an independent investigation into the shooting of an unarmed and disabled graduate student at UF.

On March 2nd, graduate student and teaching assistant Kofi Adu-Brempong was shot in the face with an assault rifle by officers of the University Police Department. Adu-Brempong was mentally-distressed, and the police were called in response to noise coming from his apartment at Corey Village on-campus.

Adu-Brempong is 5'5'', less than 150 pounds, and severely disabled from a childhood case of polio. The shooting occurred less than a minute after the officers entered the apartment. In an interview with Adu-Brempong by the Gainesville Sun after the incident, Adu-Brempong said that the police began firing a high-powered assault weapon at him without ordering him to stand down or making an arrest. "They should have told me to put up my hands," he said. Student and community groups are calling for an independent investigation of the entire incident because of the conflicting accounts of the night given by Adu-Brempong and UPD.

When evidence emerged that the shooter was University Police Department Officer Keith Smith-who had previously been implicated in throwing eggs at African-Americans while off-duty-student groups began organizing for a rally to demand justice. The students suggest that a rigorous investigation needs to be conducted in regards to the shooting of an unarmed disabled man in his own on-campus apartment. The Coalition for Justice Against Police Brutality was formed out of groups including Students for a Democratic Society, the Student Labor Action Project, the NAACP, the African Student Union, and the Alachua County Democratic Black Caucus. Together, the Coalition is calling for another rally of students and community members on April 6th.

We of the Coalition for Justice Against Police Brutality believe that it is unacceptable that we have waited over four weeks for the investigation results to be announced. The administration and investigators are stalling in releasing the truth because there are only three weeks of spring classes left at UF. In the coming weeks, the Coalition will escalate their actions and demand that those involved in the investigation release findings immediately.

Who: The Coalition for Justice Against Police Brutality: SDS, NAACP, SLAP, Alachua Democratic Black Caucus, and hundreds of concerned students.

What: Rally on the University Police Department to demand an independent investigation and that there is justice for the shooting of Kofi Adu-Brempong.

Where: Turlington Square on Newell Dr, Gainesville, FL, 32601

When: Tuesday, April 6th, 4:00 P.M.

For More Information:
Justin Wooten - (352)-213-6519
Dave Schneider- (407)-267-1419