Groups Hold Vigil, Demand Justice For Akai Gurley
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A vigil was held at City Hall Sunday for the unarmed man fatally shot by police earlier last year.
The group Organizing Asian Communities and other Asian-American organizations gathered to support the family of Akai Gurley.
Last November, Gurley was walking in a dark stairwell in the Pink Houses in East New York when he was shot by rookie NYPD Officer Peter Liang.
"No matter how many months it has been, it still an open wound that seems like it will never heal, until we get justice," said Gurley's aunt Hertencia Petersen said.
Liang, who has pleaded not guilty to charges that include manslaughter and official misconduct, claims his gun went off accidentally.
The demonstrators also voiced opposition to the police practice known as vertical patrols, where officers work their way from a building's roof to the lobby in search of law breakers.