Does it matter if he is black? Evil knows no color. This is an evil man.
Only for purposes of identification. I agree, this isn't a racial incident and he's one evil sumbitch. He was a rape suspect standing re-trial, and he shot the judge and a court reporter and 2 deputies, and now everybody is looking for him and we need to know what he looks like.
Descriptions tend to be helpful when dealing with at-large murderers, though news outlets(at least here in the happy Pacific Northwest) don't seem to think so.
It matters when the Police put out an APB on this individual. Yes, he is evil, but in order to catch him we all need to know what we're looking for.
This isn't about race, it's about describing the thug to the public as accurately and descriptively as possible so he can be stopped as soon as possible.