Gina Torres, second from left in back row, is surrounded by friends and family Tuesday, June 7, 2022, outside St. Louis City Hall, 1200 Market Street, as she commemorates the fifth anniversary of her 21-year-old son's shooting death. Isaiah Hammett was killed by St. Louis police officers when SWAT members served a "no-knock" warrant on the house he lived in with his grandfather.
ST. LOUIS — Five years ago Tuesday, 21-year-old Isaiah Hammett was killed by St. Louis police officers when SWAT members served a “no-knock†warrant on the house he lived in with his grandfather.
A few dozen people gathered in front of St. Louis City Hall on Tuesday afternoon calling for the city to hold the officers accountable for the man’s death, as well as for other deaths at the hands of law enforcement in the region.
Police say Hammett opened fire on them with an AK-47 and that there was a “firefight†inside the house. Relatives dispute that account and said an independent forensic expert found no evidence Hammett shot any of the more than 100 rounds fired.
People are also reading…
No officers were injured.
ArchCity Defenders staff attorney Brittney Watkins began Tuesday’s rally by reading the names of 22 people whose deaths in 2021 and this year involved police, according to ArchCity Defenders. She noted that there were 192 other such deaths between 2009 and 2020.
The last five names Watkins read were the five family members who died in a May 6 fatal crash that happened while officers were following a stolen vehicle: Anngelique Simmons, Ephriam “Wayne†Simmons, Luther Simmons, Rhonda Simmons and Takera Thompson.
“We fight for you,†the crowd chanted after each name was read.
Hammett’s mother, Gina Torres, spoke toward the end of the rally, wearing a dress with pictures of her son on it. She stood with Hammett’s two younger sisters and two younger brothers.
“I want (the officers) behind bars, just like they would do with anybody else,†she said. “... If we did anything, we would be behind bars that day. We would be behind bars, but no, they get to go back on the streets and kill another family (member). They might be off the streets for one or two days, but they’re right back.â€
Following the rally, friends and family members released red heart- and star-shaped balloons.
Torres and Hammett’s grandfather, Dennis Torres, filed suit in 2019 against the city of St. Louis and the nine officers involved, alleging police used excessive force in the incident.
Torres and eight family members of other people killed by police also sent letter to St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page. In it, they outlined five actions they’d like the leaders to take:
• A ban on the use of no-knock raids, “quick knock†raids, and other forms of militarized policing on St. Louis residents.
• A ban on the police use of vehicular chases, which endanger not only the person being chased but the officers doing the chasing and bystanders.
• Independent investigations of killings by police, with real consequences and accountability.
• Increased transparency for families on the circumstance of their relative’s death.
• Reparations for families who have lost loved ones to police violence.
