The police shooting of Anthoneil Williams II, 17, in Austin last week, after cops say they mistook his water bottle as a gun, is the latest example of the perils of Black boyhood in a society that does not see their innocence.
Between 2015 and 2024, 67 Black boys under age 18 were shot and killed by police, according to an analysis conducted by The Emancipator using a database of deadly police encounters created by The Washington Post. During the same period, 42 Hispanic boys and 41 White boys were killed in encounters with the police.
That means that Black boys are 6.5 times more likely than their White peers to be shot and killed by police, according to an Emancipator analysis. We looked at 2024 U.S. Census data and calculated percentages of children identified as “Black alone” and “White alone.”
The figures track with a 2020 study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics which found that Black children are six times more likely to be shot and killed by police.
“We live in a society that is uniquely afraid of Black children,” Kristin Henning, a Georgetown Law professor and author of the book “The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth, said in a statement.
Police said Williams called 911 on himself last Friday around 3 a.m. and that this incident may be a “suicide by police.” Austin Police Department body camera footage shows officers firing multiple gunshots as the victim reached for his water bottle, which was tucked into his waistband.
Black Lives Matter pushed back.
“By the police chief’s own characterization, this was a teenager in a mental health crisis. Yet the response was lethal,” the group wrote on its Instagram page. “Why are police departments trained to use deadly force, yet so unequipped to recognize, de-escalate, and safely respond to Black people in crisis?”
Since the shooting, Austin Police said in a press release that they put the three officers involved on administrative leave as the investigation continues.
Austin Police released the body camera footage of one of the officers involved in the shooting. Out of concern for our audience and out of respect for the family, The Emancipator has elected not to repost the video. Those who wish to see the uncensored video released by police can do so here.
“This is not an isolated incident,” Black Lives Matter said in an Instagram post the organization “This is a sick pattern. Black people are treated as threats before they are treated as human.”
This shooting has drawn public comparison to Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black boy who was police shot in Cleveland 2014 as he played with a toy airsoft gun at a recreation center.
In 2012, Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot by a neighborhood watchman who claimed the teen looked “suspicious.” George Zimmerman Martin trailed and shot Martin, despite police instructions not to engage.
“The tension between Black youth and the police is at an all-time high, owing in part to this dynamic. Officers — and civilians — presume that Black youth are dangerous and to be feared and treat them that way. Black youth then push back the best way they can – sometimes verbally, sometimes physically, and sometimes by avoidance,” Henning wrote in her book.
