Thugs in Colorado shot Sestinee Thompson dead as she tried to flee by car from a confrontation.

They knew she was not the robbery suspect they were searching for, but they wanted to grab her for completeness' sake. That was surely not urgent enough to justify the escalation.

That Ms Thompson had children was irrelevant; that she was pregnant was irrelevant. Her right to life was as valid as yours or mine, no more and no less.

Her actions, as described by the thugs, were very foolish, and perhaps illegal, but they were not violent. (We must not presume thugs are telling the truth — often they do not.)

It is quite possible that the thugs might have treated a white woman differently. Racism, conscious or unconscious, is not unusual. If they had done the same thing to a white woman, that would also have been wrong. We should criticize people for the cases in which they do wrong, not for those in which they do right.

Racism is not what determines whether their actions in this case were wrong. It may be tangentially pertinent in explaining Ms Thompson's over-the-top reaction to being questioned. It may also be partly to blame for chaotic life.

The reason the thugs' actions were wrong is unrelated to the race of the victim. It is that shooting at someone for fleeing questioning or arrest is an dangerous overreaction, with a significant chance of making things much worse. There is no need and no justification for life-threatening hurry.