Family photo
The family of Tommy Le is calling for a state review into the fatal shooting of the 20 year old by sheriff deputies in King County near Seattle.
In 2017, deputies responding to a citizen’s complaint of a man with a knife shot and killed Le just hours before his graduation. The knife they thought he had turned out to be a pen.
“We came to this country because we believe in the justice system,” Xuyen Le said to the Seattle Times. “When this happened to Tommy, he didn’t get justice. He died so young. We still have faith in the government and we are still looking forward to the day justice is served.”
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson is reviewing 30 police shootings under Initiative 940, a state police accountability law passed in 2018 after Le’s killing.
“When you talk about the systemic issues that are at play, this is one of the most egregious examples that I see, so there’s no question why this has been brought up,” said state Sen. Joe Nguyen to KHQ.
A Sheriff Review Board found the shooting justified, but the family has filed a wrongful death suit.
Raising this issue before the public eye again has been a painful process for Le’s family.
“It’s hard for us. It’s like we are doing this all over again,” said Xuyen Le to King5.
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How can it be justifiable to kill a young man with a pen? Even if it were a knife, how far away was he from the police? It had to be far away given they didn’t see it was a pen. So how dangerous is that even if it were a knife. NOT! The trigger-happy-always-scared-and-paranoid police are not to keep getting away with these murders and must be charged and accept responsibility for their excessive and abusive behavior.