Moroccan Man Killed by New Jersey Police
By Anouar Mzoudi
Morocco News Tribune
New York, U.S.A|A Moroccan man with the name Khalid Bouaiti was shot dead by a New Jersey police officer on Friday, March 8th.
According to the news website nj.com, the authorities described the 44 year old as mentally ill and explained that the delay in announcing his name was due to the fact that his family lives outside the United States.
According to the same source, the man was shot dead when police officers—using non lethal weapons and a distracting device—tried to break into the man’s apartment. After several unsuccessful attempts to get the man to open the door, the police broke into Khalid’s apartment and failed to disarm the man, who tried to attack an officer with a knife. The officer responded by shooting Khalid in the head and upper body.
Khalid was taken to a hospital, and was pronounced dead later that day.
According to a Youtube video published recently in many Moroccan news websites, the man’s relatives and friends organized a protest in Casablanca and demanded the opening of an investigation of the incident.
The protesters also demanded that the Moroccan authorities should be more serious in protecting the Moroccan community living abroad.
In the same context, the Moroccan newspaper Al Itihad Al Ishtiraki mentioned last Monday that the Moroccan community in New York and New Jersey is mobilizing to organize a protest against how the Moroccan was killed.
