An anti-police group in Portland (OR) that is refusing to get a permit for an anti-Trump march is also attacking the Portland police department after the fatal shooting of Quanice Hayes by an officer after an armed robbery, which they have reflexively branded a “murder,” apparently based solely on the color of Hayes’ skin.

An organization formed to scrutinize actions of the Portland police asked Mayor Ted Wheeler on Saturday to ensure that police not appear in “excessive force” at a Feb. 20 march to protest President Donald Trump.

The group, Don’t Shoot Portland, held a news conference Saturday to make the request and also decry the fatal police shooting on Thursday morning of Quanice Derrick Hayes, 17, who police say was an armed robbery suspect.

The Feb. 20 march will begin at the federal courthouse downtown, said Teressa Raiford, who spoke at the news conference on behalf of Don’t Shoot Portland.

“We do plan to have a non-permitted protest,” Raiford said, standing in front of Revolucion Coffee House, 1432 S.W. Sixth Ave., with at least a dozen supporters behind her. “I think that the Portland police have given us a very good reason not to want to work with them in the murder of Quanice Hayes.

“So I hope our mayor will hear the cries of our community and the request of the community that we’ve expressed today and not send excessive force to the protest march…not only because it’s the wrong thing to do but because (Wheeler) knows we are an organization that is known for the safety of our protests (and) that we don’t need excessive force or any kind of show of force or brutality against the families that want to come out.”

Addressing Hayes’ death, Raiford questioned the version of events Portland police have offered about his death.

“Portland is known already for its racism against people of color but predominantly against the black community,” she said. “We’re very well known for our murders of unarmed black men.”

Officer Andrew Hearst shot and killed Hayes on Thursday morning near the Banfield Pet Hospital, 1816 N.E. 82nd Ave.

A suspect matching Hayes’ description had been seen in the hospital’s parking lot. Between 6:20 a.m. and 7 a.m., a suspect matching Hayes’ description had reportedly pointed a handgun at a man living in his car and robbed him of his Oregon food benefits card. That incident happened near the Portland Value Inn, 1707 N.E. 82^nd Ave.

Police say a replica handgun was found near Hayes after he was shot at about 9:20 a.m. Police haven’t released details of what prompted Hearst to shoot.

I’ve been carrying either a CZ P07 (compact) or CZ P09 (full-size) almost every day as my chosen carry and shooting school gun for a little over a year now. I’ve got more than 4,000 rounds through them, and when I saw the photo released of the gun (above) apparently of Quanice Hayes when he was shot by a Portland police officer, I was all by certain it was a P09.

It isn’t, but you can only tell that by looking closely at the magazine. I’m going to go way out on a limb and guess that Portland officer Andrew Hurst didn’t have either my experience with this dead-nuts accurate replica of this service-grade pistol, nor the time to examine it in detail when he encountered Hayes.

Far few details are known about the Thursday shooting. We don’t yet know what actions Hayes took, if any, that caused officer Hurst to open fire. We do know that Hayes is thought to have been the armed robber who stole a food benefits car from a homeless man living in his car a few hours earlier, and that the Portland police have his picture on file from a prior arrest.

Teressa Raiford of Don’t Shoot Portland sure seems to have a lot of compassion for the young armed robbery suspect. I wish she seemed to care as much about his victim.