A retired St. Louis police captain and municipal chief was shot to death by looters in front of a pawn shop early Tuesday, and his death was broadcast live on Facebook.
David Dorn, 77, was shot in the torso while trying to defend the pawn shop from looters during a night of antifa and Black Lives Matter-fueled violence and destruction in St. Louis.
Dorn retired from the St. Louis Police Department in 2007 after 38 years on the job, according to the St. Louis Dispatch.
He rose from rookie patrol officer in 1969 to captain. He was the deputy commander of the Bureau of Patrol Support, which oversees traffic and mounted patrols, commercial vehicles and the tactical unit.
When he retired, Dorn then became police chief in Moline Acres.
Police have not made any arrests and said they have no suspects thus far. Authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.
The Facebook video shows a livestreamer walking toward Dorn as he lay motionless and bleeding on the sidewalk, still clutching his cell phone.
“O.G. stay with me, stay with me O.G.!” the man cried. “Come on O.G., come on O.G.,” he cried over and over again. “Stay with me!”
“What y’all tryin’ to do? the livestreamer exclaimed as a masked man scrambled into a black pick-up truck. “F-ck you Tom … over some TVs cuz? Over some TVs cuz?!”
“Damn, over some TVs cuz? Over some TVs?! For real? That’s somebody’s granddaddy, cuz! Over some TVs!” the livestreamer ranted.
A woman can be heard saying something, to which the livestreamer responds angrily, “man, f-ck you n-gger!”
A couple of cars can be seen in the video speeding away.
“We better than this cuz!” the livestreamer hollered. “He’s gone bro, he’s gone bro—over some TVs, cuz!” he lamented.
“O.G. man, Rest in peace, bro. Just relax, bro,” the man added tearfully as Dorn breathed his last breaths. “Ain’t nothing but love bro. You good bro, just relax bro.”
The livestreamer can be heard telling a bystander that he thought the man worked at the pawn shop and lost his life over some TVs.
“Over some TVs! N-ggers is stupid, cuz! N-ggers is dumb, cuz!”
The full video from the scene can be viewed here.
President Trump offered condolences to Dorn’s family on Twitter Tuesday night.
Our highest respect to the family of David Dorn, a Great Police Captain from St. Louis, who was viciously shot and killed by despicable looters last night. We honor our police officers, perhaps more than ever before. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/0ouUpoJEQ4
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2020
Joe Biden has thus far remained silent about Dorn’s murder, and about the numerous assaults on police officers throughout the nationwide riots.
Why is @JoeBiden silent about the cold blooded murder of Captain David Dorn? Does his life not matter to Joe because it doesn’t fit his leftwing narrative about the riots and looters?!? https://t.co/ZgfoOP9C50
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 3, 2020
The Ethical Society of Police, which represents black officers in St. Louis, called Dorn “the type of brother that would’ve given his life to save them if he had to.”
Flowers and a teddy bear sat outside the shop next to a handwritten sign that read, “Y’all killed a black man because ‘they’ killed a black man??? Rest in peace.”
Diane Davis knew Dorn and brought the flowers Tuesday. She said he was like a father to many.
“He was a kind man, he was a great man, he is a missed man,” she said.
Dorn’s wife, Ann Marie Dorn, said her husband was a friend of the pawn shop’s owner and worked for him. He would show up at the shop when burglar alarms sounded to check on the building and make sure it was secure, she said. She is a sergeant with the St. Louis Police Department.
“The fact that he was protecting and serving, this is the way, I feel in my heart of hearts that he would have liked to leave this earth,” said Dorn’s son, Brian Powell.
A memorial fund for Dorns family that was set up by OANN reporter Jack Posobiec Tuesday night raised almost $190,000 by noon Wednesday.
BREAKING:
I have established a memorial fund for the family of Captain David Dorn https://t.co/uYHShTo5rU
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) June 3, 2020
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson angrily commented on Dorn’s slaying on Tuesday, saying: “The people that shot him should be accountable. And, no, they’re not protesters. They’re criminals and they’re thugs … and hopefully they get hunt down.”
Those who witnessed Dorn’s death on Facebook Live said they were shaken by what they saw.
Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, D-St. Louis told the Post-Dispatch that he was traumatized by it.
“Very traumatized right now,” he said in a message to a reporter.
“It’s one thing to be a victim of a robbery/assault but to lie in you own blood pleading for help and no help comes other than people standing around on FB Live recording his death,” Marquaello Futrell wrote on Facebook. “All over social media. I’m upset and can’t sleep!”
The 13-minute video was taken down by Facebook after it was viewed more than 94,000 times.
“We’re saddened by what took place in St. Louis yesterday,” a Facebook spokesperson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Under our policies, the video has been covered with a warning screen but remains on the platform so that people can raise awareness or condemn this event.”
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday memorialized Dorn at the start of the daily press briefing.
After noting that Americans should remember the passing of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of the police, she said that it was important to remember the deaths of police officers like Dorn.
“We must also remember the passing of Police Captain David Dorn yesterday who was shot and killed by looters in St. Louis,” she said. “It was an absolute tragedy. A retired officer, 77-years-old whose wife was also a police officer herself. Dorn was a hero and an unfortunate casualty in the riots we have seen. Our hearts are with his family.”
“We are all Americans. We must come together, we must unify and we must have law and order,” McEnany said.