The hacktivist group Anonymous has chosen the Cincinnati police department as its latest target after a black man who is believed to have been unarmed was shot to death by officers on Wednesday, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. The attack was announced in a short YouTube video in which hackers told police that they had released the personal data of 52 officers in retaliation for the shooting.
The shooting in question is that of Paul Gaston, 37, who was shot nine times by officers after allegedly refusing to follow orders to lie down on the ground, according to the Business Insider. Gaston was confronted by police after it was reported that he was driving erratically and had crashed into a utility pole, according to Fox News. Officers say that Gaston refused to follow orders to lie down on the ground and was shot after seemingly reaching into his waistband for a weapon, which was later understood to be a plastic toy BB gun.
"We have a message to not only the Cincinnati police department but to every law enforcement officer," Anonymous warned officers in its video, which was released over the weekend and contains a clip of the shooting. "When you murder a human being... we will make your information public record. We will data dump as many officers as we see fit for each situation."
Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac was among those targeted by the data leak, although the information had seemingly been taken down as of 4:30 a.m. Monday, according to WLWT5. Email addresses, street addresses, social media accounts and other personal data was released during the leak, including personal information related to officers' family members. It is currently unknown how precisely the hack occurred, and Cincinnati police are working to assess the damage and find out who is responsible.
