White on-duty Cleveland police officer shot and killed as racial tensions with police and the Black community continue to escalate nationwide....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio

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Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman trained for 17 years as a reporter with the Call and Post Newspaper and is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Following a shooting and car crash Thursday night, a White on-duty Cleveland police officer and a 50-year-old drug informant who was riding in the officer's car are dead.

Det. James Skernivitz, 53, hired on the police force in 1998, was killed in the shooting that occurred about 10 pm on West 65th Street near Storer Avenue in Cleveland's Stockyards neighborhood near the Roses Discount Store on the city's largely White west side.

The 25-year veteran of the police department was rushed to MetroHealth Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. 

Skernivitz' car crashed into a playground after he was shot Thursday night.

He leaves behind a wife and children.

Police have arrested three suspects, two of them juveniles.

The shooting death of officer Skernivitz comes on the heels of racial unrest nationwide over questionable police killings of unarmed Black people this year, including  George Floyd in Minneapolis in May, and Breonna Taylor in March in Louisville.

Cleveland's celebrated police killings of Blacks in the last decade include 12-year-old Tamir Rice, Tanisha Anderson, Brandon Jones, Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell, and rapper Kenneth Smith.

Cleveland is still recovering from riots that broke out in downtown Cleveland during a May 30 protest for justice for George Floyd, more than 100 people arrested behind the unprecedented riots on charges ranging from resisting arrest to aggravated rioting.

The shooting incident remains under investigation, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Police Chief Calvin Williams told reporters early Friday morning, Williams, who is Black like the four-term Jackson, saying Friday that Skernivitz was a dedicated police officer in good standing.

"Cleveland lost one of its finest tonight in the line of duty," Williams said, as Mayor Jackson offered his condolences.

Williams is asking for prayers and community support for the fallen police officer. 

Skernivitz is the second  on-duty Cleveland police officer to die in the line of duty since  Derek Owens, who was Black,  on Feb. 29, 2008.

Owens was shot and killed by Lamidi Kafaru after allegedly witnessing a drug deal and initiating a chase.

Kafaru is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. 

Two other officers were killed in the line of duty in the last 20 years, Jonathan Schroeder in 2006, and Wayne Leon in 2000.

Federal authorities sent in by President Donald Trump as part of his Operation Legend initiative continue to patrol the city, whether visibly or discretely, and purportedly assist authorities with heightened crime during the coronavirus pandemic.

Skernivitz had just been sworn in as an Operation Legend officer.

Meanwhile, community activists continue to demand the defunding of police departments across the country, including in Cleveland. 

 Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

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