Nearly killed by Andrew “Tekle” Sundberg, before Minneapolis Police snipers gunned him down last week, Arabella Yarbrough, the mother of two, was filmed raging at Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters, after the group hailed him as another victim of police brutality.
According to reports, 20-year-old Andrew “Tekle” Sundberg allegedly fired into Yarbrough’s apartment, where she lived with her two children, last Wednesday. As police escorted she and her children to safely, out of the apartment complex, he fired upon her again. In a six-hour standoff, with police, Tekle refused to speak with negotiators even after his father, Mark Sundberg, pleaded with him to break radio silence. Sadly, the episode came to an end when police snipers shot and killed the armed Tekle’.
Adopted him from Ethiopia at the age of four, Tekle’s parents, claimed their son had a mental breakdown and have asserted that police could have done more to de-escalate the situation. At a march held in Tekle’s honor on Saturday, near the apartment complex, where police shot him, BLM activists championed his cause.
Yarbrough, however, felt that protesters have made a false martyr out of Tekle and was seen and heard raging at the protestors for their lack of empathy for her situation. She shouted-
“Just let it go. Grief in silence,” and “This is not a George Floyd situation. George Floyd was unarmed,” adding “That man was armed. George Floyd was not armed. Breonna Taylor was not armed. Amir Locke he was armed and he had his own guns but they came into his home while he is licensed to carry and killed him. He did not … fire. This man intentionally tried to kill us.”
- Arabella Yarbrough
Yarbrough raged at the protesters, with some of them shouting back at her telling her to “shut up.” She went on to tell Fox 9 New, she had just-
“five minutes to live while he had six hours to choose life or death.”
- Arabella Yarbrough
Yarbrough also claimed that prior to the incident, Tekle would frequently blare loud music from his apartment and had been “stalking, threatening” her.
Sundberg’s parents believe that their son was unjustly killed, due to his skin color, despite the fact that he was armed, shot at Yarborough, and could not recover his faculties enough to put down his weapon and surrender. They of course have lawyered up. Mark Sundberg reportedly said-
“My heart goes out to that woman (Yarbrough). She went through a very traumatic event with those bullets coming through her house,”
- Mark Sundberg, Tekle’s Father
And in a statement from the Sundberg family attorney, Jeff Storms, he claimed-
“We can do both things. We can feel terribly for this woman, but also remember that Tekle should be here with us and he should be alive and we can ask the Minneapolis Police Department to do better,”
- Jeff Storms, Sundberg Family Attorney
Sadly, there is no voice for the victims of Tekle’s crime. His mental health issue, that drove him to shoot through apartment walls at a woman and her children, was not to be reckoned with, once he picked up a firearm that he refused to put down. He was a definite threat to those around him at this point and circumstances left law enforcement no choice.
When police are called to an armed scene, they have no choice but to end the siege, if the lives of others are in danger. Tekle had six hours of negotiation, including pleas by his father. He chose against cooperation.
The rage by Ms. Yarbrough, whose children’s lives were at stake, should be heard and hear, loudly.
It was a tragic event for all concerned, but clearly it should not have been a point of celebration for BLM who used the situation to draw sympathy for their cause. Ms. Yarbrough’s trauma should be given a serious hearing. Her mistake was not notifying authorities sooner. Her compassion for Tekle’s problems stopped her. In her words she “let it go”. Tragically, Tekle’s parents, BLM and many on the liberal-left will argue that he was unjustly treated. These people all need to be held responsible for not recognizing the trauma experienced by his victims, at a minimum - The Yarbrough Family.
“For me, family always comes first; I would do anything to protect them.”
-Mark Wahlberg