LOS ANGELES, CA – Internet portal Yellowworld.org has joined with the Chinese American Citizens Alliance and other Asian Pacific American organizations in demanding that the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office admit to gross negligence in the shooting of 14-year-old Anna Guo, end its prosecution and release her immediately.
A protest rally outside of the Juvenile Courthouse has been scheduled for November 14, when proceedings for the case will continue.
Yellowworld.org, which had successfully campaigned online for the nationwide recall of a racist Halloween costume last month, has set up a site for Guo’s supporters at
http://anna.yellowworld.org “Anna may have been victimized twice – once, in an abusive home situation, and again by unnecessary police force,” said Saykin Foo, national president of the Citizens Alliance. “Members of the Asian American community are deeply concerned that Anna may become a victim a third time.”
Guo, a Chinese American, was shot by a rookie Ventura County police officer on May 5, 2002. The teen had become increasingly distraught and depressed after being separated from her father and brother and placed in foster care. That evening, Guo’s foster parents called police after Guo threatened to commit suicide and took a steak knife to her room. The five Ventura County police officers who arrived not only failed to calm or disarm the girl, but shot her three times in the abdominal area, the last bullet striking the girl after she’d already crumpled to the floor.
Despite strong indications suggesting potential police misconduct, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office cleared the officers of any wrongdoing and charged Guo with felony Assault with a Deadly Weapon.
“If there was any crime that Anna committed, it was placing her trust with the police officers,” Yellowworld founder and president Elbert Oh said. “Anna later told her father that she thought the police had arrived to help her, to save her from herself. Those sworn to ‘serve and protect’ nearly ended the life of a girl who never threatened anyone.”