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The hillside shack in Chiquimula, Guatemala that housed the family of Juan Perez and Margarita Lopez didn\u2019t have electricity the day their eldest son, Amilcar, left for the United States.<\/p>\n
But it did the day he died.<\/p>\n
During an April 24 press conference, with more than 3,000 miles between Chiquimula and San Francisco, both Juan and Margarita addressed via Skype the media and supporters of Amilcar Perez-Lopez\u2014the 20-year-old Guatemalan immigrant who was fatally shot on Feb. 26 by two plainclothes San Francisco police officers in the Mission District.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve suffered greatly about my son,\u201d said Margarita, through her Mayan Ch\u2019orti\u2019 accent in the best Spanish she could muster. Margarita couldn\u2019t hold back her tears. \u201cI ask for justice for my son, because I\u2019m feeling this deeply, that they took my son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arnoldo Casillas, the attorney representing the Perez-Lopez family, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against San Francisco Police Department on April 24 after private autopsy findings challenged the official police version of the fatal shooting. The lawsuit implicates SFPD Chief Greg Suhr, officers Eric Reboli and Craig Tiffe, and the City and County of San Francisco.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Mission District has a cancer,\u201d said Casillas. \u201cOver and over, young Hispanic men are being abused of their civil rights\u2014being trampled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perez-Lopez was shot on Folsom Street between 24th and 25th streets after plainclothes officers Reboli and Tiffe responded to a call that a man armed with a knife was chasing another man. On the night of the shooting, Suhr stated that Perez-Lopez (who hadn\u2019t yet been identified) lunged at officers with the knife raised overhead, prompting Reboli and Tiffe to open fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lie. There is no other way to characterize that version,\u201d said Casillas. \u201cHe was shot in the back four times. If I\u2019m charging you, you can\u2019t shoot me in the back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The private autopsy, conducted by forensic pathologist Jay Chapman of Santa Rosa, concluded four entry wounds in Perez-Lopez\u2019s back: one near the upper right shoulder, two to the mid-lower right back, and one to the mid left back. There was also one that entered through the back of Perez-Lopez\u2019s right arm, grazing his chest, and one to the back of his head.<\/p>\n
Casillas argued that the shots to the back and the wound through Perez-Lopez\u2019s arm indicate that not only was Perez-Lopez running away from the officers, but he also had his arm at his side at the time of the shooting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t the person that Chief Suhr spoke of,\u201d Casillas said. \u201cIt\u2019s physically impossible to get these trajectories through his body unless he\u2019s running away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Perez-Lopez\u2019s legal team is still waiting on the results of the official autopsy, they have seen the photos of the entry wounds and expect the results to mirror that of the private autopsy.
\nIn addition to the private autopsy, three eyewitnesses and a Feb. 26 photo taken by neighbor Chris Carlsson seem to contradict Suhr\u2019s version of events.<\/p>\n
Mr. Perez, the person whom Amilcar was chasing with a knife following an altercation, claimed Amilcar was grabbed from behind before dropping the knife and being shot by police. The two other witnesses (referred to as Mr. V and Mr. D for their own safety) support Mr. Perez\u2019s claim.<\/p>\n
Carlsson\u2019s photo also showed Perez-Lopez dead in the street between two parked cars, and not on the sidewalk where Suhr has stated the shooting occurred.<\/p>\n
Casillas is calling for both officers to be charged, yet admits that isn\u2019t likely.<\/p>\n
Casillas\u2019 team has given their entire case to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office in San Francisco in hopes of landing a federal prosecution.<\/p>\n
The families afterward \u201cHe [Suhr] said, \u2018You know, it\u2019s been really hard for the families of the two officers.\u2019 This is the family that it\u2019s hard for,\u201d Melrod said, pointing to a photo of the Perez-Lopez family. \u201cThe family that depended on Amilcar for a living. The family that sent their son here to provide [them] a better life. I didn\u2019t hear Chief Suhr talk about that family. And that\u2019s the family we\u2019re here to talk about today.\u201d<\/p>\n Later that evening, hundreds of people marched in the Mission, starting at the location where Perez-Lopez was killed. Two of those people were Refugio and Elvira Nieto, who endured the loss of their son Alex last year at the hands of the police.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m here with a lot of sadness,\u201d said Elvira, remembering the expression on Margarita Lopez\u2019s face. \u201cBecause I know the pain of having to go through this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arnoldo Casillas, the attorney representing the Perez-Lopez family, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against San Francisco Police Department on April 24 after private autopsy findings challenged the official police version of the fatal shooting. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":26474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3929],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-26461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/strong>On Feb. 27, a day after Amilcar was killed, Officer Eric Reboli\u2019s wife Marilu wrote on her Facebook page: \u201cThank you to everyone who has reached out to Eric through me. He is doing well and I will pass on the messages. Thank you for the support. Life is fragile and sweet. Be safe out there.\u201d
\nJonathan Melrod, one of the attorneys participating in the lawsuit and member of the California advisory board to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said he had seen Suhr interviewed on TV regarding the officers\u2019 families.<\/p>\n