Woman Was Not Murdered "for Being White"
The Claim
An Indiana woman was murdered for being white.
News posted on
Emerging story
In mid-July 2020, users on social media circulated an image claiming that Jessica Whittaker was shot “for being white” and “for saying all lives matter.”
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that Jessica Doty Whitaker was killed, but it is misleading to say it was for being white.
Whitaker and a few friends were walking down Downtown Canal Ave and Martin Luther King Jr. Street at 3 AM early July 5, 2020. Whitaker's fiance, Jose Ramirez, stated that they confronted Black Lives Matter protesters. After an argument, one of the protestors and Ramirez pulled out guns. Ramirez said that he and the people involved in the armed standoff settled their differences and parted ways. Shortly thereafter, Whitaker was shot.
Ramirez said that he blindly fired back, but reported to police that he only fired aimlessly towards the direction that he heard the gunshots come from. He stated that he “didn't see nobody” and hoped “he didn’t hit nobody.” He also said that Whitaker had just said “all lives matter” only moments before. “All lives matter” is a slogan sometimes used in opposition to the popular civil rights protester’s moniker “Black lives matter.”
However, Amit Sharma with the Courier Dailey reports that “someone among them” also “used a slang version of the N-word” before the confrontation took place.
Because no suspect has been named or otherwise identified, there is no way to establish what their motive might have been.
Without a suspect, it is impossible to ascertain if or if the target was Whitaker or Ramirez, who stated that moments before he had engaged in an armed standoff.
