In a surprising and positive twist, a Baltimore grand jury has voted to indict the six officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old man who died in police custody, the Baltimore Sun has reported. Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby announced the indictments, which include charges of manslaughter and second-degree murder, on Thursday afternoon.
Gray's death on April 19 — and the mysterious circumstances surrounding his fatal spinal cord injury a week earlier — led to widespread protests in Baltimore and around the country. Local activists have also been working to use the turmoil to teach residents their rights and build solidarity within the city. But eventually, tensions between protesters and police led to confrontations and unrest on April 27, when the city was placed under a 10 p.m. curfew.
The unrest over the killing of yet another unarmed black man by police officers has quieted, but residents have been watching the case closely. Grand juries did not indict the police officers who killed Michael Brown in Ferguson or Eric Garner in New York City, which led to massive protests from coast to coast and cemented the Black Lives Matter movement as a mainstay of political activism.
Mosby's office conducted an investigation into the events that led to Gray's death and first brought charges on May 1; the grand jury dropped some charges and added others, but the officers could still face serious prison sentences. They will be arraigned on July 2.
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