Starting their march at Lincoln Park in downtown Long Beach, hundreds of protestors made their way to Pine and Broadway on Saturday, where they stayed for nearly half an hour chanting.
Cars honked at the crowd before turning around to find alternate routes, while police officers on bicycles closed off a one-block perimeter to the traffic.
For the third time this month, protestors gathered to speak out against the recent shootings of unarmed individuals by the Long Beach Police Department. The first two rallies, which attracted about 100 people each, took place earlier this June.
The crowd was comprised of the families, friends, and supporters of Hector Morejon, 19, Tyler Woods, 19, Donte Jordan, 39, and Feras Morad, 20, all fatally shot in separate incidents by LBPD officers within the past two years.
“We want to get justice from every officer that has taken innocent lives and for them to be prosecuted for murder, because it’s not right that they go home to their families and face no consequences while we are mourning for ours,” said Eric Morejon, brother of Hector and one of the main organizers of the rally.
The two most recent shooting victims are Hector Morejon and Feras Morad, both of whom died this year. Hector was fatally shot by officer Jeffrey A. Meyer while Meyer was responding to a trespassing call on April 23, and Morad was shot by officer Matthew Hernandez who was responding to a call about an intoxicated, potentially violent person on May 27. Morad was an incoming transfer student to CSULB.
Sean Gallagher
The tensions between both groups that have resulted from the shootings are what led to the rallies, said Lisa Kong, one of the Saturday protestors.
“I feel like the police recently, especially with all of the shootings of unarmed people, are kind of even more on edge than usual,” Kong said. “They know that there is a lot of tension with the people and that there are some people who want to actively go to war with the police and kill police officers, like what happened in New York last year.”
The protestors are asking that the LBPD hand over the investigations for these shootings so that they can be looked at fairly, said Trey Williams, a friend of Donte Jordan. Jordan was shot and killed by the LBPD in November 2013, and the Los Angeles County coroner’s report released in January 2014 said that he had “high levels” of PCP, cocaine, and marijuana in his system.
“I feel like these police officers need to be held accountable for their actions,” Williams said. “I don’t believe their story, not one bit. Donte had a family, I don’t think he had even touched drugs for years, and the report they release says that he had PCP and cocaine in his system. When you investigate yourself, how can it be trusted that you’re telling the truth?”
Protestors chanted, made speeches, and even mimed falling down at the sound of a police siren to get their point across.
Event organizers said that they don’t yet have a specific date laid out for their next rally but that they promise to continue until they feel there is justice.