It's been over 3 months since George Floyd was killed by police. Police are still killing Black people at disproportionate rates.
On May 25, George Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. The incident sparked international protests against racism and police brutality. But in the wake of this mass call for change, police are still killing Black men and women at disproportionate rates.
Over the following three months, from May 26 to August 31, police in the U.S. killed 288 people, according to data from both The Washington Post and Mapping Police Violence, two organizations that have kept comprehensive lists of people who have been killed by police. Of the 288 people listed by either the Post or Mapping Police Violence's database, 59 were Black, 102 were White, 42 were Hispanic or Latino, five were Asian, two were Native American, and the race of 78 people was unknown.
Black people make up roughly 13.4% of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — but they accounted for about 20% of people killed by police during that time period.
To count those killed by police, Mapping Police Violence draws from police shooting databases, obituaries, criminal record databases, police reports, and other sources. It includes people who died "as a result of being shot, beaten, restrained, intentionally hit by a police vehicle, pepper sprayed, tasered, or otherwise harmed by police officers, whether on-duty or off-duty." The Washington Post's log includes every person who has been fatally shot by a police officer.
In the three months since Floyd's death, the racial disparity in police killings has increased slightly. The data shows that from January 1 to May 25 of this year, Black people were approximately 3 times more likely than White people to be killed by police; from May 26 to August 31, they were about 3.3 times more likely.
For years, data has shown that Black people are far more likely to be killed by police than people of other races.
Police have killed more people in the first half of 2020 than in the first half of each of the previous four years, according to Mapping Police Violence, despite more people staying home because of the coronavirus pandemic. From January 1 to August 31 of this year, Mapping Police Violence and the Post identified 771 people who were killed by police, 164 of whom — roughly 21% — were Black.
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Black men and women are often killed at younger ages than people of other races, according to the data. The average age of Black people killed by police in 2020 is roughly seven years younger than the average age of those who are White, according to the data. Out of the 38 teenagers and young adults who were under the age of 21 when they were killed by police this year, just under half were Black.
A widely-cited 2019 study published in the scientific journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences declared that police violence is a leading cause of death among young men, especially those who are Black.
The study concluded that Black men "face an exceptionally high risk" of police killings, estimating that 1 out of every 1,000 Black males "can expect to be killed by police" — twice the risk faced by the general male population.
While far fewer Black women than men are killed by police, Black women are still 1.4 times more likely than White women to be killed by police, according to the study.
The data shows that Black people are disproportionately more likely to be killed by police whether or not they have a weapon. Of the 594 cases this year in which a person killed by police was allegedly armed, 241 were White and 115 were Black. About 80% of the White people killed by police were allegedly armed at the time of the incident, while about 70% of the Black people killed by police were allegedly armed. This indicates that police are more likely to kill Black people even when they are unarmed.
Cases in which the person killed was unarmed have a similar pattern. The data shows that of 69 cases in which a person was unarmed when they were killed, 26 were White and 21 were Black. When looking at total cases for the year by race, the data shows that White people killed by police were unarmed 8.7% of the time, while Black people killed by police were unarmed roughly 12.8% of the time.
These cases do not account for incidents in which it remains unclear if the person was armed or not, or if the person was marked as armed with a vehicle.
This data is based on reported and verified cases, and does not necessarily account for all incidents in which a person was killed by police. But based on the known cases, police have killed at least one Black person every week since January 1. Only two states — Rhode Island and Vermont — have reported no killings by police this year.
Below are the known names of the Black men and women who have been killed by police so far this year:
- Dijon Kizzee
- Michael Anthony Harris
- Julius Paye Kehyei
- Damian Lamar Daniels
- Trayford Pellerin
- Hasani Best
- Adrian Jason Roberts
- Anthony McClain
- Kendrell Antron Watkins
- Rafael Jevon Minniefield
- Jonathan Jefferson
- Salaythis Melvin
- Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis
- Amir Johnson
- Ashton Broussard
- Darrien Walker
- Winston Joseph Latour III
- David Earl Brooks
- Jeremy Southern
- Vincent Harris
- Darius Washington
- Malcolm Comeaux
- Antwane Burrise
- Vincent Demario Truitt
- Kanavis Dujuan Glass
- Hakim Littleton
- Richard Lewis Price
- Erroll Johnson
- Malik Canty
- Joseph W. Denton
- William Wade Burgess III
- Kevan Ruffin
- Ky Johnson
- Aloysius Larue Keaton
- Rasheed Mathew Moorman
- Robert D'Lon Harris
- Skyleur Young
- Terron Jammal Boone
- Brandon Gardner
- Donald Ward
- Caine Van Pelt
- Rayshard Brooks
- Michael Thomas
- Phillip Jackson
- Lewis Ruffin Jr.
- Kamal Flowers
- Malik Tyquan Graves
- David McAtee
- Derrick Thompson
- Momodou Lamin Sisay
- Terrell Mitchell
- Jarvis Sullivan
- Ruben Smith III
- Modesto "Marrero Desto" Reyes
- Tony McDade
- George Floyd
- Dion Johnson
- Maurice S. Gordon
- Willie Lee Quarles Sr.
- Terry J. Caver
- William Johnson Jr.
- Tobby LaRon Wiggins
- Robert Johnson Jr.
- Randy Roszell Lewis
- Rayshard Scales
- David Tylek Atkinson
- Yassin Mohamed
- Adrian Medearis
- McHale Rose
- Finan H. Berhe
- Dreasjon "Sean DaDon" Reed
- Qavon Webb
- Jah'Sean Iandie Hodge
- Demontre Bruner
- Said Joquin
- William Lamont DeBose
- Brent D'Andrew Martin
- Malcolm "Milky" Xavier Ray Williams
- Shaun Lee Fuhr
- Jonas Joseph
- Kelvin D. Shaw
- Elmer L. Mack
- Joshua Johnson
- Chase Rosa
- Virgill Thorpe
- Joel Acevedo
- Steven Demarco Taylor
- Derick L. Powe
- Jasman Washington
- Goldie Bellinger
- Jonathan Lee Adams
- Kanisha Necole Fuller
- Desmond Franklin
- Joshua Dariandre Ruffin
- Dewayne Curtis Lafond
- Idris Abdus-Salaam
- Tommie Dale McGlothen Jr.
- Nathan R. Hodge
- Etonne T. Tanzymore
- Tyrell "Rex" Fincher
- Daniel Prude
- Kamaal Koby Edwards
- Alvin Lamont Baum II
- Mychael Johnson
- Harold Spencer
- Lebarron Ballard
- William Dion Tolbert Simpkins
- Darwin "Darrin" Barnell Foy
- Darrell William Mobley Sr.
- Breonna Taylor
- Donnie Sanders
- Zachery Anderson Jr.
- Barry Gedeus
- Tyler M. Jones
- Elijah Jamaal Brewer
- Devan Austin Twilley
- Manuel Ellis
- Anthony Taylor
- Desmond Hayes
- Justin Lee Stackhouse
- Kenneth Laneal Sashington
- Matthew Felix
- Joseph C. Jewell III
- Kevin Aldophe
- Bobby Joe Gibbs
- Jeremy Grayson
- Dominque Antwon Anderson
- Marc Dominic Neal
- Alvin Cole
- Ronnell Mouzon
- Leonard Charles Parker Jr.
- Abdirahman Salad
- Keith Dutree Collins
- Jaquyn O'Neill Light
- William Howard Green Jr.
- D'ovion Semaj Perkins
- Joshua James Brown
- Marquis Golden
- Deandre Lee Seaborough-Patterson
- Andrew J. Smyrna
- Michael J. Rivera
- Reginald Leon Boston Jr.
- Darius J. Tarver
- Gamel Antonio Brown
- Kelvin White
- Samuel David Mallard
- Mubarak Soulemane
- Renard Antonio Daniels
- Albert Lee Hughes
- Keenan McCain
- Henry Isaac Jones
- Ryan Simms
- Earl Facey
- Claude Washington Fain III
- Miciah Lee
- Kwame Jones
- Brandon Dionte Roberts
- Tina Marie Davis
- Tyree Davis
- Jamarri Daiwon Tarver
- Individual's name unknown — August 29
- Individual's name unknown — August 7
- Individual's name unknown — July 23
- Individual's name unknown — July 7
- Individual's name unknown — June 22
