Community reaction to the latest police killing in Denver

“We’re here mourning the loss of a life. There is a family grieving, another mother is crying. And there’s another community right here that is hurting yet again. And we want answers, and we want answers right away.”

This latest police killing has prompted a huge community reaction including a protest and vigil tonight near the location where 16 year old Jessica Hernandez was shot and killed by Denver Police while she was in the driver’s seat of a car.  Few details have been released by police about the shooting.

At tonight’s vigil, members of the community said that the withholding of information by police along with witness reports that the girl was unarmed have angered them.  Particularly, the community spoke out against police and media criminalization of the car’s occupants and ongoing concern about a lack of an independent body to investigate police.

Participants came from throughout the state to say that they want new policies in place that would train officers to use other means of response before using a gun. Also present were other survivors of police shootings or beatings including the family of Ryan Ronquillo who was shot 12 times and killed on July 2, 2014, Sharod Kindell who was shot 4 times by police on January 9 2015 and is now recovering from his wounds, and Patsy Hathaway, the mother of Alex Landau who was beaten by Denver Police on January 15, 2009.

We begin our report from tonight’s event in Denver titled, “No Enemies” where Pablokee Cornejo of the musical group Debajo del Agua talked about the shooting of Jessica Hernandez down the block from his home.