Title: How Many People Were Fatally Shot by US Cops the Past Year? | Snopes.com
Headings: How Many People Were Fatally Shot by US Cops the Past Year?
How Many People Were Fatally Shot by US Cops the Past Year?
Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich drew attention after tweeting out the number.
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Content: They account for less than 13 percent of the U.S. population, but are killed by police at more than twice the rate of White Americans. Hispanic Americans are also killed by police at a disproportionate rate. The Washington Post’s findings for the past year are not an anomaly. In fact, the statement “nearly 1,000 people were shot and killed by police” would be true for every year since The Washington Post started tracking shooting deaths in 2015 (993 in 2015, 960 in 2016, 986 in 2017, 990 in 2018, 999 in 2019, and 1,021 in 2020). The Guardian came to a similar conclusion during its investigation in 2015 and 2016. The Guardian’s report, which included people who died in police custody but not via gunshot, such as Freddie Gray, found that 1,093 people were killed by police in 2016. So far in 2021, 274 people have been shot and killed by police across the U.S. If this pace continues, 2021 will see slightly fewer deaths from police gunfire than previous years with about 915 deaths. Police officers, of course, have also been killed in the line of duty. According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, there were 360 line-of-duty deaths in 2020. The vast majority of those deaths (232) were reportedly caused by contracting COVID-19 in the line of duty.