Tony Thompson, CEO and chairman of Kwame Building Group, has added $5,000 to the $10,000 reward offered by St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever shot two police officers outside the Ferguson Police Department early in the morning of Thursday, March 12.
Thompson is a long-time board member of the St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers Crime Commission.
Jeffrey Williams was arrested on Saturday and charged on Sunday with five felonies in connection with the shootings. St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar credited cooperation from “every strata of the community,” including protestors, in providing tips that led to his arrest. Cashing in on the reward is dependent upon a conviction.
“I stand on both sides of this issue every day of my life,” said Thompson. “The perception is that police hate black people, and that black people hate the police. The truth is, black people respect and appreciate the police, but we do not want to be victimized and terrorized by bad police.”
Thompson’s family has gone through gun violence as victims.
“I know many responsible and respectful young black men, and I live with the fact that two black teens killed my brother Tyrone,” Thompson said. “We must not judge all young black males as dangerous.”
Thompson’s brother Tyrone Thompson, a former police officer and Pagedale police chief, was murdered by two male black teenagers during a 2010 robbery.
Both Thompson brothers spent many hours teaching leadership skills to 17- and 18-year-old young men through the Gentleman’s Club mentoring program at Carnahan High School, which Tony Thompson founded and where he continues to mentor young men every week.
Thompson would like to see more St. Louis business leaders speak out about violence in general and violence against black people. He challenged business leaders to take action through one of the many local organizations working to bridge the racial gap and create change in the St. Louis community.
“We know there are a lot of obstacles out there that are facing young African-American men,” Thompson said, “and we don’t need to give additional reasons for them to not succeed.”
For more information on Kwame Foundation, visit www.kwamefoundation.org or call (314) 754-5619.
