[trs8080]

"seeing the initial shots were fired by a group of armed black men, killing several white men at the police station"

This is a loose interpretation of the article which loses important context. The initial shot was fired when a white man attempted to wrestle a gun away from a black man. The gun accidentally discharged and both sides started firing. Your interpretation would lead a reader to believe that a group of armed black men began the entire event by murdering white men.

[yucky]

    > The gun accidentally discharged and both sides started firing.

Well it didn't exactly discharge into the floor, it discharged into a person and killed him. And the armed mob that stormed the police station wasn't supposed to be armed in the police station at all, so of course the situation escalated.

There is blame to go around, as each side escalated it until there was bloodshed.