While publicly addressing the press on Monday, the grandmother of Stephon Clark tearfully pleaded for justice to be served to her family.
"They didn't have to kill him like that. They didn't have to shoot him," Sequita Thompson said at a news conference.
When Clark was fatally shot by two officers with the Sacramento Police Department in the backyard of the home he shared with his grandparents, Thompson was watching a video of her 7-year-old granddaughter dancing. She said it was at this time that she heard the 20 shots that killed her 22-year-old, unarmed grandson.
During the news conference, the family of Stephon Clark announced they would be paying for an independent autopsy to accompany the official investigation being conducted by the Sacramento Police Department.
Other civil rights organizations such as the National Action Network, the Sacramento NAACP and Black Lives Matter have also called for an independent investigation into Clark's death.
"I just want justice for my grandson, my daughter, my grandkids," Thompson cried. "They're in so much pain. I want justice for Stephon Clark!"
Rev. Shane Harris of the National Action Network said that the group's founder, the Rev. Al Sharpton, would deliver the eulogy at Clark's funeral on Thursday.
When Clark was shot, officers were searching the neighborhood for someone they said had been smashing windows.
Thompson told the Sacramento Bee that her grandson and others would often knock on the back window to ask her or her husband to let them in through the garage door because their front doorbell was broken.
(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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