Journalist On Death Bed After Police Shot Her With ‘Non-Lethal’ Bullets

A freelance photojournalist who lost her eye when police shot her with a foam bullet in 2020 is now receiving end-of-life care as a result of that injury. A professional journalism organization shared this week.

Linda Tirado, 42, “is at life’s end and receiving palliative care,” the National Press Club said in a release, because the strike to her face also caused a traumatic brain injury and corresponding dementia. Police struck her with the supposedly “non-lethal” bullet while she was covering the 2020 anti-racism protests in Minneapolis following the police murder of George Floyd.

“Tirado took all precautions trying to hold the line where police instructed, wearing protective goggles and mask against tear gas, which filled the air,” Emily Wilkins, president of the National Press Club, said. “During the chaotic action, officers aimed a gun firing ‘non-lethal’ foam plastic bullets at journalists including Tirado. The projectiles struck several journalists. Tirado was hit in the eye despite her protective goggles. She lost the eye.”

Over the past four years, the mother of two’s condition has worsened and is expected to soon result in her death, the organization said.

The Minneapolis Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tirado’s condition.

When the shooting drew worldwide media attention in 2020, the photojournalist called on the people outraged on her behalf to turn their ire toward the systemic racism she was covering when police shot her.

“I will not regain sight in my left eye. I will need more surgeries. But I have not been crying for my lost vision; rather, it feels as though my body is reacting to what is happening to my country,” she wrote for The New Republic.

“I have lost half