Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old grocery clerk from Hayward, Ca., was fatally shot in the early hours of New Year’s Day at the Fruitvale Station stop of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. The case has received increasing media coverage in the wake of the shooting, although the matter has received inconsistent attention on a nation-wide scale.

The shooting happened after Grant was pulled off the train. Grant, along with a group of other young men, was detained after a fight occurred on board the train. BART’s operations control received word of the incident and dispatched five BART police officers to handle the situation at Fruitvale Station, where the train was ordered to hold.

Several video recordings taken of the account, recorded via cell phones by passengers on the train, indicate that the officers subdued Grant, who was lying facedown on the platform with his arms behind his back.

Without any apparent signs of struggle from Grant, former Officer Johannes Mehserle, aged 27 and a two-year veteran of the force, then drew his service weapon around 2:15 A.M. and fired a single shot into Grant’s back. Grant died at Highland Hospital in Oakland several hours later.

Eyewitnesses say that Grant was handcuffed at one point, but that officers removed the cuffs before reporters arrived. All parties agree that Grant was unarmed. Police investigators say that Grant put up a brief struggle, but was entirely restrained at the time of the shooting.

“Officers close ranks to validate their own use of deadly force,” said sophomore Sam Howard. “Knowing that fellow officers will defend your decision increases the chance that an officer will use deadly force, and it’s often perceived that criminals are subhuman and not deserving of equal treatment anyway.”

Mehserle resigned from the BART police force on Jan. 7, avoiding internal disciplinary action or a prompt to explain his actions.

Mehserle, without any resistance, was later arrested Jan. 13 in Nevada at the home of a friend. Mehserle and his family left California to escape death threats leveled against him after the shooting.

Alameda County prosecutors charged Mehserle with murder, although it will be the decision of a jury to decide the degree of his crime.

Legal experts say this decision is unprecedented, as few to no officers in California have been charged for murder concerning on-duty incidents.

“In all cases, the defendant is innocent until proven guilty,” said Christina Somerville, a sophomore and president of Blacks Unifying Society (BUS).

“We don’t know what was going through (Mehserle’s) mind. I hope no one quickly condemns either party,” Somerville said. “Instead, people must examine all facts before them and then come to a fair conclusion in a respectful and peaceful manner.”

Somerville’s respect for due process does not overshadow her concern over the incident.

“For a lot of people, their privilege does not allow them to realize that these kinds of events happen all the time. Because Grant was a black male, people automatically have preconceived notions about him.”

The shooting led to several protests and demonstrations intended to pressure the BART police department into responding to the incident promptly. One of the protests, held on Jan. 7, became violent.

“There is a long history of antagonism between police and people of color,” said Maria Rosales, assistant professor of political science and native of Oakland.

The protest began peacefully around 3 P.M. at the Fruitvale Station. As evening fell, roughly 200 protesters broke off from the group and headed toward downtown Oakland, where rioting and destruction of property affected several businesses and other private properties.

Shortly after the rioting began, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums addressed the crowd on 14th Street and encouraged everyone to remain patient while the BART internal investigation ran its course. His appeal did little to stem the violence, as vandalism continued through most of the night.

“I really hope that this could be a case where, instead of pushing for the death penalty for this officer, it becomes an actual conversation about changing the structure of the institution rather than focusing attention on the actions of an individual,” Rosales said.