Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s quest to pardon an Army sergeant recently convicted of murdering a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020 is the latest proof that Republicans’ “law and order” mantra has little, if anything, to do with enforcing the law. It has more to do with enforcing the GOP’s apparent view of “order,” one in which killing a police violence protester should go unpunished.
Daniel Perry was convicted Friday of murdering Garrett Foster in Austin, during the nationwide protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Perry and Foster — both white men — were armed with guns in a state that allows open carry. Foster was there with his fiancée, Whitney Mitchell, who is Black.
According to NBC News:
Police said Perry, based at the time 70 miles north at Fort Hood, was driving in downtown Austin on the evening of July 25, 2020, when he encountered demonstrators in the street and came to a stop.
Foster was legally carrying a semi-automatic rifle when he approached the intersection where protesters had gathered, police said, and was fatally shot by Perry, who stayed in the vehicle and used a handgun.
Perry claimed to police that Foster, an Air Force veteran, had pointed the weapon at him, inspiring him to shoot in self-defense, officials said. Foster was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Painting a fuller picture of Perry’s mindset, his social media and text messages showed a willingness, at least, to use violence against protesters. The Austin Chronicle reported:
The testimony confirming Perry’s anger toward protesters came on the third day of the trial as prosecutors displayed text messages and social media comments showing that he thought about killing them. “I might have to kill a few people on my way to work, they are rioting outside my apartment complex,” Perry wrote to a friend in June of 2020. “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters,” he wrote on another occasion. Perry also encouraged violence in a variety of social media…
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