A Colorado protester was charged Monday with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a disabled veteran in the head during a Black Lives Matter demonstration spurred by the death of George Floyd.
James Edward Marshall, 27, a defense attorney, was charged formally with attempted second-degree homicide, first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and other counts stemming from the June 4 shooting of 49-year-old Danny Pruitt at a protest in Alamosa.
Mr. Pruitt, who lives in Canon City, was inching his black truck through an intersection partially blocked by protesters when a shooter pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the back passenger window, as shown in video posted by KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs.
Alamosa police said the victim was transported to the UC Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs. Mr. Marshall was released on $60,000 bail, according to the ABA Journal.
Other protesters condemned the violence and said the demonstration had been peaceful up until that point. Video from the previous night showed protesters lining the sidewalks chanting, “Black lives matter!”
“I’m just sad that things turned the way they turned in the matter of a second,” Zoila Gomez told KRDO. “I mean, you’re talking seconds. Unexpected. Fully unexpected.”
A GoFundMe page posted by Mr. Pruitt’s niece Alyssa Hatcher has raised more than $140,000. She said in a June 7 update that her uncle is in stable condition after previously being placed on life support.
“Danny Pruitt is a single father of a little girl. He is one of the best fathers I have come to know. I can say without a doubt the reason he is fighting so hard, is because of his little girl,” said the post.
The Main Street protest in the small southeastern Colorado town — population 10,000 — was among the hundreds prompted by the death of Floyd, 46, who was killed March 25 as a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck after an arrest for forgery, as shown on video.
The officer, Derek Chauvin, and three other officers at the scene were fired and charged with counts related to Mr. Floyd’s death, which has been ruled a homicide.
The victim is a disabled veteran who is still in a Colorado Springs hospital with a traumatic brain injury. https://t.co/e2U0yQP7e9
— KRDO NewsChannel 13 (@KRDONC13) June 16, 2020
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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