List of killings by law enforcement officers in the United States, December 2020

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This is a list of people reported killed by non-military law enforcement officers in the United States in December 2020, whether in the line of duty or not, and regardless of reason or method. The listing documents the occurrence of a death, making no implications regarding wrongdoing or justification on the part of the person killed or officer involved. Killings are arranged by date of the incident that caused death. Different death dates, if known, are noted in the description.

The table below lists 20 people.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by with reliable sources.


December 2020[]

Date Name (age) of deceased Race State (city) Description
2020-12-31 Rodolfo Caraballo Moreno Unknown Florida (Miami) Police were called after reports of gunshots on New Year's Eve. Relatives say that police shot Caraballo Moreno several times with a rifle. Relatives also said that he was holding two guns, but may have thought he was defending himself.[1]
2020-12-30 Christian Hall (19) Asian Pennsylvania (Monroe County) Christian Hall was shot and killed by law enforcement while standing on an overpass on Interstate 80. Police responded to a call of a mental health crisis, and he was suspected to be suicidal.[2] His relatives and viewers on the internet expressed that they felt the shooting was an inappropriate response by Law Enforcement.[3][4]
2020-12-30 Dolal Idd (23) African-American Minnesota (Minneapolis) A Community Response Team of Minneapolis Police stopped a vehicle at the Holiday Gas Station in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis. According to a police spokesperson, the officers believed a felony suspect, an adult male, was in the vehicle along with an adult woman. The police had their body cameras on, and the felony suspect in the vehicle exchanged shots with the officers and was killed. The woman was uninjured. A crowd of activists began gathering within the hour after the shooting. The shooting was the first police killing in Minneapolis since the murder of George Floyd in May, and it happened less than 1 mile (1.6 km) from the site where it occurred.[5][6] On December 31, the Minneapolis Police released the footage from the body cams, which showed three police vehicles attempting to stop a car in the gas station parking lot. The driver attempted to ram through the police vehicles, which then blocked it in. Then the glass of the driver side window appears to break outward as shots are heard.[7]
2020-12-29 Trevor Seever (29) White California (Modesto) An unarmed man was shot and killed by police after being told to put his hands up. The officer entered the scene and shot Seever without provocation and then made him sit on the ground with his hands up. Seever kept his hands raised but then put his hand on his chest to stop the bleeding to which Seever was shot multiple more times, fatally.[8] Body camera footage has been released by Modesto Police Department. Seever's is heard saying, “I can’t breathe!” in the video.[8] On 19 Mar 2021, Modesto Officer Joseph Lamantia was fired and arrested on first-degree murder charges.[9]
2020-12-28 Jordan Crawford (30) White Arizona (Phoenix) At his ex-girlfriend’s house, Crawford told police that he had a gun, then acted as if he were pulling the weapon, according to police body cam footage.[10]
2020-12-26 Shamar Ogman (30) Black Connecticut (Hartford) Police were called after reports of a man holding two guns in the middle of a street. Several officers responded, and one shot the man after he allegedly pointed an assault rifle at the officers.[11]
2020-12-26 Aliana Burns (31) Black Oregon (Astoria)

Bruns was burglarizing a home, and was killed by a State Trooper when she "brandished a gun in an officer's direction".[12][13][14]

2020-12-23 Angelo Quinto (30) Asian California (Antioch) Quinto's family called police to his home after he had an episode of paranoia. When police arrived, several officers restrained him, with one officer putting his knee on Quinto's neck. Quinto fell into unconsciousness and died at a hospital three days later.[15]
2020-12-22 Andre Maurice Hill (47) Black Ohio (Columbus) Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther dismissed police officer Adam Coy after the white officer, who has a history of complaints, shot and killed Andre Hill inside a home garage as Hill showed his phone. Coy reportedly failed to activate his body camera and to initiate life-saving measures in timely fashion. The killing followed weeks of protest over the police killing of Casey Goodson, earlier the same month, also in Columbus.[16][17][18]
2020-12-22 Monica Goods (11) Unknown New York (Ulster) A New York State Trooper pursued a man's vehicle after he allegedly fled a traffic stop for speeding. According to police a collision occurred between the trooper's vehicle and the man's SUV, causing the SUV to overturn. Goods was ejected from the man's SUV and died at the scene.[19]
2020-12-17 Johnny Lorenzo Bolton (49) Black Georgia (Smyrna) Bolton was shot and killed by police during a no-knock warrant. Police have released very few details about the shooting.[20]
2020-12-15 Ernie Serrano (33) Native American California (Jurupa Valley) Serrano was held down by several sheriff's deputies in a Jurupa Valley grocery store. Deputies claim Serrano tried to grab a security guard's gun during the incident. The Riverside County sheriff said an initial autopsy found Serrano had methamphetamine, marijuana and other drugs in his system. Ernie's family says that his death was caused by asphyxia due to the position he was in, disallowing him to breathe, with the drugs making breathing even more difficult, leading him to die of oxygen starvation.[21]
2020-12-13 Luis Vasquez (52) White/Latino New York (New York City) A man was fatally shot by police after he opened fire near a crowd outside the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine at the end of a Christmas choral concert.[22] He was shooting in the air and at police, and was carrying a backpack which contained rope, a can of gasoline, multiple knives, and a bible, as well as multiple handguns and cartridges. He was killed after being shot in the head, and had been shouting 'Kill me, kill me!'.[23][24]
2020-12-13 Jordan Zenka Unknown California (Sacramento) A man crashed his car into a store and started threatening shoppers. He stabbed himself, and got into a standoff with officers. He had critically injured himself with the knife, was acting erratically, and injured three people, but it is unknown if they were injured by the knife or the vehicle. He was shot and killed by two policemen, and the entire store was evacuated. Police had apparently tried to use less-than-lethal tactics, but the situation escalated.[25][26][27][28]
2020-12-13 Robert Joseph Evans (29) White Utah (Farmington) Evans was shot and killed by Utah Highway Patrol officers after he rammed a patrol car, got out, and 'started advancing aggressively towards officers'. It is reported that the car may have been stolen, and that 'he was armed', but the weapon has not been specified by UHP. Police initiated life saving measures, which failed.[29][30][31]
2020-12-11 Bennie Edwards (60) Black Oklahoma (Oklahoma City) A merchant called 911 because Edwards was causing a disturbance. When an officer arrived, Edwards approached him with a knife. Additional police were called, and Edwards was instructed multiple time to drop his knife, and pepper spray and a taser were used. Edwards continued to be combative, and was shot. Edwards' family said he suffered mental illness and was scared.[32]
2020-12-10 Thomas Reeder III (44) Black Michigan (Flint) Reeder was shot and killed by police after a standoff; he was the main suspect and perpetrator in the December 7 fatal shooting of 30-year-old Brittney N. Chatman. Police tried to enter his house after getting a warrant for his arrest in her murder, but he fired at them and a shootout ensued, which ended his death by shooting.[33][34]
2020-12-07 Amy Ambercrombie (26) Unknown Texas (Conroe) Amy Ambercrombie, 26, was accidentally struck and killed by a Montgomery County Patrol car. She had been wearing all black and was walking in the middle of the highway.[35][36]
2020-12-04 Casey Goodson (23) Black Ohio (Columbus) Police were finishing an unsuccessful search for a fugitive (not Goodson) when Goodson "drove by and waved a gun" at an officer. A witness heard the officer command Goodson to drop his gun, and when Goodson did not comply, he was shot five times in the back and torso outside his home. Police said a gun was recovered from the scene. Goodson's family said he was holding a sandwich, not a gun, and that he was licensed to carry a gun.[37]
2020-12-02 Dolores Hernandez (62) White/Latino California (Redding) Police were called after Hernandez allegedly yelled at store patrons at Discovery Village shopping center. When police arrived, they say that Hernandez hit an officer with a car and pinned him under the front tire, leading one of the officers to shoot.[38]

See also[]

This section is an excerpt from Lists of killings by law enforcement officers in the United States § See also.[]

References[]

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  2. ^ "Family of man killed in Pa. police-involved shooting wants investigation, announce lawsuit". pennlive. 2021-02-04. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  3. ^ "Police: Man dead after officer involved shooting on I-80". PAhomepage.com. 2020-12-31. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  4. ^ Hall, Molly Bilinski, Peter. "Family of teen fatally shot by state police on Poconos overpass announce lawsuit, are being represented by civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump". mcall.com. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  5. ^ Jany, Libor (2020-12-30). "Minneapolis police shoot, kill man during traffic stop". StarTribune.com. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
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  7. ^ "Minneapolis police release body camera footage of man shot, killed after exchanging gunfire with police". 2020-12-31.
  8. ^ a b KCRA Staff (2021-01-06). "Modesto police release body camera video after man shot, killed by officer". KCRA. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
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  13. ^ Oregonian/OregonLive, Fedor Zarkhin | The (2020-12-30). "Astoria woman shot and killed by state trooper after breaking into home, Clatsop County Sheriff's Office says". oregonlive. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
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  23. ^ Moore, Tina; Celona, Larry; Green, Rachel; Fitz-Gibbon, Jorge (2020-12-13). "Shooting outside Cathedral of St. John the Divine". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
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  25. ^ Moleski, Vincent (December 13, 2020). "Law enforcement officers shoot, kill man armed with knife in store, Sacramento police say". www.sacbee.com. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  26. ^ Moleski, Vincent (December 13, 2020). "Law enforcement officers shoot, kill man armed with knife in store, Sacramento police say". Sacramento Bee. Retrieved December 16, 2020. {{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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  35. ^ "Young woman walking in main lanes of I-45 in Conroe struck and killed leading to 4-vehicle crash". khou.com. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  36. ^ "120720 MCSO FLEET AUTO PED FATAL - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  37. ^ Amiri, Farnoush; Welsh-Huggins, Andrew (March 18, 2021). "Autopsy: Deputy shot Casey Goodson Jr. 5 times in the back". ABC News.
  38. ^ "Redding Police Shoot, Kill Marysville Woman, 62, Whose Car Struck Officer". CBS Sacramento. December 4, 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-05.
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