On Oct. 11 a demonstration led by friends and family of the late Gary King Jr. was held to demand the firing of Sgt. Patrick Gonzales from the Oakland Police Department.
Just weeks earlier, on Sept. 20, Gary King Jr., 20, was fatally shot twice in the back by Gonzales. The cop stopped King on suspicion of being a potential suspect. He was shot down after turning his back to run.
Gonzales then approached the dying King to handcuff him and call for back up.
Police cars as well as helicopters swarmed the scene but it took 15 minutes for King to receive any medical attention. He died before he reached the hospital.
The Oakland cop who shot King was involved in two previous shootings in recent years, one of them paralyzed 17-year-old Ameir Rollins. In 2006, Gonzales killed a suspect.
There have been over 2,000 people murdered by police in the U.S. since 1990. King is the killed by cops in the Bay Area this year.
The Oct. 11 protest was organized by Keith Shanklin, a close friend of the King family and a political activist. Members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) mobilized for the action.
The protest called on Councilmember Keith Carson to push for firing Gonzales from the OPD. Protesters also demanded that Gonzales be prosecuted for the killing. Chants rang out: “OPD you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!”
King’s family is determined to continue to fight for justice. There will be a protest each Thursday, 12 noon, at Oakland City Hall.
