A few days ago an article caught my attention that brought angry tears to my eyes. Yet again it was a case of police brutality in America but this particular incident struck a little closer to home for me personally and for the cosplay community.
Twenty-two year old Darren Hunt, resident in the city of Sarratoga Springs Utah was shot in the back by police, “When the officers made contact with Mr. Hunt, he brandished the sword and lunged toward the officers with the sword, at which time Mr. Hunt was shot”. That’s from the official statement issued by police but bystanders do not agree with it at all and contradict it, one witness account they said he was standing calmly with his hands at his side. His suspicious weapon was a blunt/rounded samurai sword from an Asian souvenir shop. Darren was shot 6 times, the shot that killed him hit him in the back, he was running from the police when they started to fire on him.
His family believe Darren was fired at because he was a young black male, his appearance and the weapon as well statements from eye witnesses all contradict the police report.
Why this has cropped up amongst the geek community? Darren’s appearance on the day has raised a lot of questions, according to his family the sword was a false katana cosplay sword and judging by the images that have popped up of Darren Hunt that day it does indeed look like he was cosplaying Mugen from Samurai Champloo.
As the story and investigation goes further, it’s important and I would urge all cosplayers out there to be careful if you have cosplay props that look like weapons. My heart goes out to his family and hope that justice is found. I will update this article as more information is released.
Source, Black Girl Nerds
