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NAACP wants justice in Martinsburg shooting

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The Berkeley and Jefferson county branches of the NAACP will hold a joint press conference today in Martinsburg concerning what leaders say is the unjustified killing of a Virginia man who was shot more than 20 times by city police officers last year.

The press conference will be held at noon at the square in Martinsburg, across from the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Library near where the police-involved shooting of 50-year-old Wayne Arnold Jones, of Stephens City, took place.

Jones was shot by five officers with the Martinsburg Police Department on March 13, 2013, following an incident that began in the vicinity of the 100 block of South Queen Street. Jones was shot with a Taser twice after allegedly refusing police orders and later was fatally shot when police say he stabbed an officer with a knife during a scuffle with an officer on the ground.

An autopsy report released for the first time last month revealed that Jones suffered 23 gunshot wounds, including eight wounds to the back. Sherman Lambert, a local attorney representing the man’s family in a $200 million federal lawsuit filed against the city, has accused of officers of using unreasonable and excessive force, alleging Jones was shot by police as he was on the ground.

“We need an investigation. Right now, we think nothing else is going to happen unless the federal government steps in,” said George Rutherford, president of the Jefferson County branch of the NAACP…

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