Roughly a month apart, the United States has seen two very similar cases of police brutality. The first case we saw was the case of Charleena Lyles. Charleena Lyles called 911 to report a break in to her apartment. When the two white officers arrived, there was a brief discussion, then supposedly Lyles came at them with a knife, and they shot her in front of her children.

Just recently, we've seen the case of Justine Ruszczyk. Ruszczyk called 911 to report a possible assault in the alley next to her apartment. When officers arrived, she was the only person in the alley.

Officer Mohamed Noor, a Somali-Muslim man, fired the shot that killed her. There was no camera or audio footage of the incident, as both officers had their cams off.

What we know about the victims

Charleena Lyles was a 30 year old African-American woman living in Seattle. At the time of her death, she was three months pregnant. She already had three children, ages one, four, and 11. Lyles' four year old daughter has down syndrome. All three children were home at the time of the shooting.

Lyles had mental health issues. Her apartment was marked as an increased risk environment. At least one of the officers going to her apartment knew that she was struggling with her mental health. Both officers knew that she had three children.

Still, she was murdered in her own apartment.

Justine Ruszczyk was a 40 year old Australian woman living in Minneapolis. She was set to marry her fiance, Don Damond, next month. Ruszczyk had dual citizenship between the United States and Australia, as her father holds United States citizenship. Ruszczyk was trained as a veterinarian.

She was also a yoga instructor and life coach.

Who were the officers?

The two officers to arrive at Charleena Lyles' apartment were Officer Jason Anderson and Officer Steven McNew. McNew is the officer who shot and killed Charleena Lyles. Both officers are white. Anderson joined the force in 2015, while McNew has been on the force since 2008.

Both were placed on paid administrative leave until the case is resolved.

The two officers who answered Justine Ruszczyk's call were Officer Mohamed Noor and Officer Matthew Harrity. While not much is known about Harrity, we know quite a bit about Noor, the officer who shot and killed Ruszczyk. Noor is a Somali-Muslim man who came to the United States at a young age. He accepted the difficulties of being a police officer as part of the job and nothing more. Noor has had three previous complaints against him, two remaining open. Both Noor and Harrity have been placed on administrative leave.

The outrage

Both cases have a lack of information and a lack of serious camera evidence. The biggest difference between both cases is the public outrage.

Some people have used the shooting of Justine Ruszczyk as a way to push more hate toward Somali-Muslim people. People are outraged that a Muslim officer was able to kill a white woman.

The same outrage from the white public was not there for Charleena Lyles. Although the Ruszczyk case just occurred, there already seems to be a lot more information on this case than the case of Charleena Lyles. There is no better reasoning for press coverage than matters of race. For once, it wasn't a white officer shooting a black person. It was a Somali-Muslim officer shooting a white woman. And still, whoever isn't white will be the suspect and villain.