Furthermore, the founder of Open Carry Ohio is quoted thusly:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/10/07/3576457/ohio-gun-rights-leader-police-shooting-victim-likely-would-not-have-been-killed-if-he-were-white/
“I’ve said from the very beginning that race was a factor,” said Virgil Vaduva, who founded Open Carry Ohio. As someone who has long openly carried a gun and associated with others — mostly white — who do the same, Vaduva has first-hand experience with how white gun carriers are treated, even in that very same Beavercreek Wal-Mart where Crawford was shot. Vaduva says he has openly carried his gun there. “If John Crawford were white, if he did not look like he were ‘from the hood’ [as some have alleged], I think he would still be alive today.”...
Vaduva articulated similar wishes to ThinkProgress. While one of the primary goals of all of Open Carry Ohio’s protests is to make the public aware of the state’s open carry law, he said in the case of Crawford, he, too, would like to see Ritchie held accountable. And he would like to see Williams fired if not federally prosecuted.
As for police training, he said he already asked that of police three years ago, when an individual called 911 on him for having a gun at a restaurant. At the time, he had a beard and was wearing a knit hat, and speculated “Maybe I looked a bit too much like a hippy.” Vaduva said the 911 caller described him and his friend as “two crazy guys” but police didn’t take that as a trigger to shoot or even injure him. And he said in the years since, he has dressed nicely while carrying his gun and has never had an incident.
“Unfortunately Beavercreek is a white town,” said Vaduva, a self-described libertarian. “Race was a factor. I am certain.”
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