By Jeff Proctor
Albuquerque Journal
SAGINAW, Mich. — The son of an outspoken critic of police shootings in Albuquerque was fatally shot by police in Michigan on July 1.
Milton Hall was shot by Saginaw police officers outside a strip mall in the Michigan city, his mother, Jewel Hall, told the Journal on Monday evening.
“They didn’t have to kill him,” she said. “They should’ve been trying to help him. He was my only son.”
Jewel Hall has been pushing for a federal probe of the Albuquerque Police Department over 24 officer-involved shootings — 17 fatal — since 2010 and other issues that she and a group of community activists say show a pattern of civil rights violations.
The Saginaw Police Department says Milton Hall, 49, was wielding a knife and made “aggressive movements toward several officers.”
Jewel Hall said witnesses have told her Milton Hall had walked into a convenience store for a cup of coffee and either forgot to pay for it or made a remark to the clerk. She said the clerk called police, who followed her son across the street to the strip mall.
“From what I understand, he was holding a plastic knife, like you would get in the convenience store,” Jewel Hall said. “He had his hands over his head, and when he made a little turn, they put 46 bullets in him.”
Local media reports also say Milton Hall was shot more than 40 times.
Milton Hall, who attended high school in Albuquerque, was described as a homeless man, but his mother said he lived in a Saginaw apartment. She said he has struggled with a mild form of mental illness through the years but was able to live on his own.
Copyright 2012 Albuquerque Journal