‘His life mattered too’: Tributes pour in for David Dorn, African American former police captain killed during St. Louis rioting

Tributes have poured in following the death of David Dorn, a 77-year-old black man and a retired police captain, who was shot and killed Tuesday by looters in St. Louis.

“He was a kind man, he was a great man, he is a missed man,” Diane Davis, who brought flowers to a memorial for Dorn, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A sign at the memorial outside the shop where Dorn was killed read: “Y’all killed a black man because ‘they’ killed a black man??? Rest in peace.”

Dorn retired from the city police department in 2007 after nearly 40 years on the job, serving as the longtime deputy commander of the Bureau of Patrol Support, which oversees traffic and mounted patrols, commercial vehicles, and the tactical unit, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Dorn was a personal friend of the owner of a pawnshop that was being vandalized, his wife said. Dorn would frequently check on the shop whenever a safety alarm would go off.

Last week, an African American security guard at a federal building in Oakland was also shot and killed during rioting in the city. In Las Vegas, a black police officer remains on life support after being shot in the back of the head during civil unrest there.

President Trump, and others who have expressed outrage at rioting amid otherwise peaceful protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, has used Dorn’s shooting to call for a return to law and order and a harsh crackdown on violent demonstrators.

“His life mattered too,” Megyn Kelly tweeted.

Conservative commentator Mark Levin also questioned why prominent celebrities, journalists, and Democratic politicians had not forcefully condemned the killings.

“My deepest condolences to #DavidDorn family,” tweeted Tamika Hamilton, who is running for California’s 3rd Congressional District.