Following the horrific mass murder at Emanuel AME Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. last year, South Carolina showed the way in inspirational racial healing.  Unfortunately, the lesson does not seem have reached Greenville, in the state’s Upcountry.

Last Friday, a Greenville police officer was slain while pursuing a suspect.  Greenville Online reports:

Officer Allen Jacobs died in a hail of gunfire Friday afternoon while chasing a “confirmed and self-described gang member” who then turned the gun on himself, Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller said.

Jacobs, a 28-year-old officer and decorated Iraq War veteran, leaves behind a pregnant wife and two young sons, Miller said. (snip)

Addressing the media several hours later at City Hall in downtown Greenville, Miller said Jacobs’ gun was still holstered when he was shot by the suspect, 17-year-old Deontea Perry Mackey, about 12:30 p.m. behind a house in the Nicholtown community.

Jacobs and his partner were on patrol when they spotted Mackey on Rebecca Street and pulled over for a field interview, Miller said. The police chief said they weren’t trying to serve a warrant as he had earlier stated.

But Mackey instead ran, leading officers on a foot chase that snaked through woods and behind houses.

Jacobs, Miller said, was "quite fit and quite fast" and kept pace with the suspect. About 20 seconds after the chase was called in on police radio, a second report came of shots fired.

Eleven seconds later, as Jacobs rounded a house near the intersection of Ackley Road, his partner radioed in, saying an officer was down.

Jacobs was struck multiple times, despite wearing a bulletproof vest.

Other officers gave him CPR, and Jacobs was taken to Greenville Memorial Hospital, where he died, Miller said.

The suspect kept running for about a half mile, crossing onto Baxter Street toward a spur to the Swamp Rabbit Trail. Two officers were there waiting. Cornered, Miller said officers saw the suspect call his mother before taking his own life.

What followed is very troubling.  A vigil was held at Nicholtown Missionary Baptist Church to “honor” the family of the slain suspect and, some claimed, the family of the slain officer.  But pictures of the rally published in Greenville Online show black power salutes being offered from the stage and returned from the audience:

Of course, both families deserve sympathy for their losses.  But it appears that in the place of the healing that followed the massacre in Charleston, Alinskyite “rubbing raw” is being practiced in Greenville.

Photos via Greenville Online.