Posada in the Mission remembering Alex Nieto

Nine months ago the San Francisco Police Department shot Alex Nieto while he paused to eat a burrito on the side of Bernal Heights. The unarmed City College student and security guard made no threat to anyone. The San Francisco Police Department has refused to say who the officers were who fired 14 shots into Mr. Nieto.

At 24th and Mission yesterday, Adriana Camerena spoke to a small crowd gathered to walk to the Bernal Heights site. Behind her stand members of other families who have lost relatives to police shootings.

Friends of Nieto recalled his last Christmas, driving with him up and down Mission Street in a low-rider, singing and waving to passers-by.

These people are the families of Antonio Lopez, shot by police in San Jose, and of Yanira Serrano Garcia, killed in Half Moon Bay last June, only 20 seconds after an officer arrived to answer their call for help getting her to take her meds.

Antonio Lopez's son fingered a toy.

Relatives remember O'Shaine Evans, killed by the SFPD in October while the officers were patrolling for car burglars.

Errol Chang was another victim of law enforcement officers murderously substituting shooting for mental health assistance. Calling the police for help can be deadly. What are families to do?

The walk through streets was both somber and angry. Too many police shootings! Too little justice! People need help, not police acting like an unaccountable gang with guns.