Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg canceled a series of campaign events to handle fatal shooting of a black man in South Bend.
What We Know:
- Eric Jack Logan, 53, was shot early Sunday after police responded to a report of a suspicious person going through cars. Logan allegedly approached the officer with a knife after being confronted, that’s when the officer opened fire. Logan was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
- Buttigieg, who is the mayor of South Bend, traveled to the city after hearing the news and held a news conference that same night. “The relationship between the police officers who are sworn to keep this community safe and everybody who lives here is among the most important things we have as a city,” he said at the news conference. “So when an incident like this happens, I want to make sure it’s understood…that we care.”
- Buttigieg has received some criticism by black community leaders in South Bend in the past for his response to to other police-involved shootings. In the conference, Buttigieg said that there’s an independent outside investigation to determine whether the officer’s use of force was justified, which he said is done in all the city’s officer-involved shootings.
- Buttigieg was scheduled to attend fundraisers in California and was also scheduled to speak at the LGBTQ Gala at the Democratic National Committee in New York.
These cancellations won’t impact his campaign, considering his events have been sold out for months, meaning the money raised has already been counted. The fundraiser will be rescheduled, but no date has been set.
