Americans nationwide have expressed anger and frustration over the continued deaths of black people at the hands of police, particularly the May 25 death of George Floyd, 46, in Minneapolis. But local outrage also has focused on Dion Johnson, 28, who was shot to death the same day by an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer who had found him asleep in his car in north Phoenix.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, noting that issues involving race and police have been ignored for years, said the majority of people who gathered in Phoenix to grieve and protest did so peacefully. But as protests turned violent, police used tear gas, smoke bombs, flash and concussion grenades, pepper spray and rubber bullets on demonstrators each night.
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