A 78-year-old man resisting eviction from his apartment at a senior citizen complex was shot multiple times by Detroit police last Thursday.
The news media initially reported that an “unidentified man was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital in critical condition.” Since then authorities have refused to release the name of the victim or any details on his condition, leaving open the possibility he may have succumbed to the gunshot wounds.
While the police siege was taking place, a waitress at the restaurant across the street expressed her shock over the inhuman treatment of the old man. “I heard on the news that a 78-year-old is being evicted and that is why all the police are here,” she told the WSWS. “Where is this man supposed to go?”
The shooting of an elderly man trying to defend his home provides a glimpse of the devastating conditions facing the working class. Detroit has been ravaged by the long-term decay of American manufacturing. Today, more than a third of the population lives in poverty and more than 25 percent are unemployed. These are the official figures. The reality is even worse.
The Detroit shooting is the latest in a series of such cases throughout the US. In May of this year, 45-year-old Mark Fussner was shot to death by a police sniper after a five-hour standoff in the downriver Detroit suburb of Allen Park. In March 2009, 91-year-old Addie Polk died months after police said she shot herself during an eviction in Akron, Ohio. Polk had missed payments on a Countrywide Home loan on the 101-year-old home that she and her late husband, a retiree from Goodyear Rubber, purchased in 1970. Fannie Mae, which took over the mortgage, filed for foreclosure.
Source: World Socialist Web Site
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