94% Of People Killed By Police Were Armed

987 people were fatally shot by police in 2017. That number is an increase from 2016, which saw 963 people shot and killed by law enforcement. According to a new report from the Washington Post, which has been tracking police shootings since 2015, 919 of those people were armed when they were confronted by police. 

White males accounted for 44% of the deaths, while black males were victims in 22% of shootings. The youngest person shot and killed by police was 14, and the oldest was 91-years-old. 

25% of people killed by police were suffering from some form of "mental distress at the time of the encounter." Of those people, 88% were armed during the fatal encounter. 

The high percentage of mentally ill people being killed by police worries mental-health advocates. While they are encouraged that many police departments are implementing crisis training for dealing with mentally unstable individuals, they are dismayed by the number of deaths.  

There was some good news in the report. The number of police officers killed in the line of duty in 2017 was only 46, which was down 66% from 2016 according to the FBI.

The number of people shot and killed by police has remained fairly consistent since 2015, which leads criminologist Geoff Alpert to believe that "the numbers indicate that this is not a trend, but a robust measure of these shootings."

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