Tallahassee Community Action Committee demands justice for Tony McDade

June 1, 2020

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- The Tallahassee Community Action Committee along with other state and local activists are demanding justice after the

that killed 38-year-old Natosha "Tony" McDade.

The group says they are outraged with Tallahassee Police’s response, and is asking for change.

The May 27 shooting was the third officer-involved shooting in Tallahassee in 2020.

TCAC is pushing for leadership change at the Tallahassee Police Department.

From the beginning of the investigation, TPD said the suspect in the fatal stabbing on Saxon street was a female.

Since naming their suspect, WCTV has heard from advocacy groups who say Tony McDade is a black trans-man.

The shooting happened just two days after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

TCAC is demanding the body camera footage be released and the immediate arrest of the officer involved. They’re also asking for an immediate investigation into McDade’s death.

The organization is also seeking the removal of Tallahassee Police Chief, Lawerence Revell, and the officers involved.

“Tony McDade should still be alive, George Floyd should be alive, Breona Taylor should still be alive. The list of black people who have been murdered by police is too long for people to ignore. The institutionalized racism in our country and it must end today,” said Natishia June, the deputy field director of ACLU of Florida.

“People will try to tell you he just committed a stabbing. People will judge him, and act like they can have anything to say about his actions and they have no right. They have no right to say anything about Tony McDade or his actions, when you’re a trans-person, when you’re a black person who is constantly beaten down by the system in every way possible,” said Delilah Pierre of TCAC.

The activists are also calling on the Mayor, City Commissioners and the Mayor’s LGBTQ advisory board to outline specific actions to overcome racism and transphobia within Tallahassee.

WCTV has reached out to Chief Revell for response specific to the Tallahassee Community Action Committee’s demands.