Diane Abbott, who is Britain's first Black female MP, claimed that Black Lives Matter leader Sasha Johnson was shot in the head because she "stood up for racial justice." However, police and media outlets have reported that the prominent activist was shot in London by four black men when rival gangs clashed Sunday.
"Black activist #SashaJohnson in hospital in critical condition after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head," tweeted Abbott. "Nobody should have to potentially pay with their life because they stood up for racial justice #BlackLivesMatter."
Abbott, among others, pushed the narrative Monday that Johnson was targeted in an assassination attempt because of the leader's "anti-racist" activism.
Johnson's group Taking the Initiative Party (TTIP), a political party that was registered with the Electoral Commission almost four years ago and fielded its first candidates in May's local elections, have claimed that the attack followed "numerous death threats" in response to the party member's advocacy.
"At this early stage work continues to establish a motive but there is nothing to suggest that Sasha was the subject of a targeted attack," the Metropolitan Police Department reported via Tuesday's press release. "At this time, police are also not aware of any reports of threats made against her prior to the incident."
Authorities reported that there was an organised party taking place in the back garden of an address in Consort Road. Johnson was among around 30 guests at the garden party. Four black males wearing dark clothing gained entry into the garden via side entrance, police report. In the ensuing melee, a firearm was discharged, injuring Johnson. The suspects then fled the garden.
"Our work is ongoing to establish the motive for this attack but I want to reiterate that nothing has been brought to our attention that suggests Sasha was targeted," said Detective Chief Inspector Richard Leonard, who leads the ongoing investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department's specialist crime command. "I would urge anyone who can help our investigation to get in touch so we can ensure these dangerous individuals are identified and arrested."
A friend of Johnson's told BBC News that she believed the incident was "more related to rival gangs" and the 27-year-old victim was not the intended target.
"So I think it's more to do with gangs or gang violence or rivalry or some type of dispute between two different groups, and the incident was not intended for Sasha as far as we are aware, as I am being told by closer friends and family," said Imarn Ayton, who befriended Johnson during the Black Lives Matter protests last year.
Johnson was left hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, rushed to intensive car in the early hours Sunday after being shot in Peckham, south-east London.
Despite what law enforcement has determined, activists are still implying without evidence that Johnson was shot for the radical's militant activism.
TTIP responded to the police statement Tuesday and lambasted law enforcement's alleged "dismissal of death threats received by Sasha."
The party's social media post on Facebook outlined the "threat to kill" criminal act under section 16 of the Offenses Against the Person Act 1861 and continued to "deduce that the threats and the incident have a correlation."
"Ultimately, it appears as though the Met police are exercising damage control by underestimating the severity of this incident," the TTIP wrote online.
A speaker at Johnson's official vigil in Ruskin Park implied that it was an intraracial shooting: "In every community, there are good eggs and bad eggs and we have to make sure those bad eggs are held accountable for their actions."
"Sasha's friends have come forward to say she was shot when a rival (black) gang shot up the party she was at. Why are you saying she was shot for standing up for racial justice?" asked The Post Millennial's editor-at-large Andy Ngo to Abbott.
Abbott has since appeared on LBC's debate show Cross Question and was asked Monday night by presenter Iain Dale if she "inflamed racial divides" by tweeting something divisive without having done her "homework."
"It is so wrong to accuse people of colour who raise issues in relation to race of somehow inflaming feelings," the former shadow home secretary rebutted on-air.
Johnson has called for reparations to be given to black citizens in the form of tax breaks due to the legacy of slavery and has campaigned for the removal of statues linked to slavery. Outlining the TTIP's manifesto in an interview December with MailOnline, she called for a national register of alleged racists that would ban the accused from living near ethnic minorities. The list would include individuals guilty of "micro-aggressions," which the Oxford Dictionary defines as 'indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalised group."
"It's similar to the sex offenders register. If you were to be racially abusive to someone, [the register] would question whether someone is fit enough to hold a particular job where their bias could influence another person's life," she said.
"She's been on record calling for regime change, abolishing police & making whites slaves as reparation," Ngo pointed out on Twitter on Monday evening.
"The white man will not be our equal but our slave," Johnson once tweeted.
Johnson rose to prominence last year when she advocated for the creation of an armed black militia, the abolishment of police, and the overthrowing of capitalism.
Johnson has also displayed confrontational behavior before with others. In one video, she hurled racial slurs and threats of violence at another black individual.
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