Suspect Charged In Oluwatoyin Salau Double Homicide Investigation

TOPLINE

The suspect taken into custody by Tallahassee, Florida, police has been charged with murder and kidnapping in a double homicide investigation, whose victims are Black Lives Matter activist Oluwatoyin Salau, 19, and AARP volunteer Victoria Sims, 75.

KEY FACTS

Crucial quote

“Rest In Peace, Oluwatoyin Salau. I’m sorry that your life was so painful in your last days on earth,” wrote Bernice King, daughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., on Twitter. “You were trying to change America for Black lives. Thank you. “We need #JusticeForToyin, @TallyPD.”

Key background

Salau’s death was confirmed just hours after an autopsy classified the death of Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man who was shot by Atlanta, Georgia, police, as a homicide. Their deaths come amid numerous recent high-profile killings of Black people, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the massive global protests sparked in their wake. (Singer Beyoncé Knowles penned an open letter to Kentucky’s attorney general Sunday demanding justice for Taylor, who was shot eight times by police while asleep in her bed, at home). The Democrat reported that in the hours before she went missing, Salau had tweeted about being sexually assaulted by a man who offered to give her a ride to a nearby church, where she said she was sheltering. Glee, the suspect, was previously arrested June 9 on a separate charge of battery, and before that, he was arrested May 30 on a charge of “aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability.”

Further reading

Suspect charged with murder, kidnapping in Oluwatoyin Salau case (ABC News)

Florida protester Oluwatoyin Salau found dead in Tallahassee after going missing (Tallahassee Democrat)

Tallahassee police, demonstrators still searching for missing Black Lives Matter protester (Tallahassee Democrat)

Rayshard Brooks’ Death Was A Homicide, Coroner Rules (Forbes)

Beyoncé Urges Justice For Breonna Taylor In Letter To Kentucky AG: ‘Take Swift, Decisive Action In Charging The Officers’ (Forbes)