About 20 people stood in the heavy rain this evening at a protest at the north Jackson gas station where a man allegedly trying to steal beer was shot and killed by a store clerk.
Meanwhile, members of the Indian business community are blaming Jackson police for the fatal shooting, saying their stores aren't well patrolled.
The clerk, 31-year-old Sarbrinder Pannu, has been accused of shooting and killing 36-year-old James Hawthorne after Hawthorne allegedly took a case of beer from J&S Food Mart on Medgar Evers Boulevard. Investigators said Pannu followed Hawthorne, who was unarmed, out of the store and shot him twice - in the head and the shoulder.
Pannu is charged with murder and shooting into an occupied vehicle. On Tuesday, he was granted a $50,000 bond.
Outside the gas station entrance Wednesday evening, protesters held signs asking for justice and insisting the shooting was racially motivated.
Community activist and radio show host David Archie has organized protests today and Thursday in front of J&S Food Mart. "For a case of beer, a man's life has been taken," Archie said. "We can no longer afford to sit back in silence and watch the violence that is destroying our community."
Archie said Tuesday that black customers are treated differently than customers of other races at Indian-owned and operated businesses. Archie is black, as was Hawthorne.
"They throw our change at us," he said. "They put out-of-order signs on the bathrooms, but they're not out of order. It's so we can't use them."
Archie also took issue with Pannu's bond, saying it is too low.
"I don't know if they've done enough research to know if this guy is a flight risk," he said. "And to have two felonies facing you, I don't think the bond fit the crime. Fifty thousand dollars is such a low bond for someone who has lost a life."
Members of the Indian community have said Pannu's defense is a law that allows people to use deadly force to protect themselves against perceived imminent attacks. However, police have said in this case, the law, referred to as the Castle Doctrine, was misinterpreted.
Pannu's bond wasn't given in open court because Pannu waived his initial appearance, Municipal Court Judge Ali ShamsidDeen said.
Police Chief Malcolm McMillin defended his department, saying precincts have stepped up patrols in commercial areas that have been hit hard by property crimes.
"We are doing everything we can do. We don't have enough personnel to put somebody in every convenience store," McMillin said. "I empathize with the problems they're facing. The Indian community is not being treated any differently, and to say so is a distortion of the facts."
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