You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

California: Police Kill Unarmed 73-Year-Old Man Holding Crucifix

HeadlineDec 14, 2016

And in Bakersfield, California, more than 100 residents and family members gathered for a candlelight vigil Tuesday night for Francisco Serna, a 73-year-old man who was shot seven times by police just after midnight on Monday as he was taking a walk in his neighborhood. Serna’s family says he suffered from the early stages of dementia, and he would take walks at night when he was having trouble sleeping. Police say they were responding to a call about an armed man walking around the neighborhood. But the police later admitted Serna did not have a gun or any weapon. Instead, the police said Serna was carrying a crucifix. Police say all seven officers involved in Serna’s killing have been put on leave. Bakersfield is in Kern County. In 2015, Kern had the highest rate of police killings of civilians per capita of any county in the United States.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top