A candlelight vigil was held in Northridge for a man who was shot and killed on New Year’s Eve by an off-duty police officer.
On Sunday evening, a crowd of about 50 people gathered on the wet asphalt outside the Village Pointe apartment complex in Northridge to mourn Keith Porter Jr. A Compton man was shot at a business on Dec. 31 by an off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, according to authorities.
Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles – of which Porter was a member – said in a news release that a vigil was planned to remember the 33-year-old father and called for an independent investigation into his death.
“We want to recognize that this is one of the worst injustices that has happened, and there will be time for us to protest,” said Melina Abdullah, director of Black Lives Matter Grassroots, during the vigil. “This is a time of sorrow. … We will not be silent.”
In a statement released after the incident, Homeland Security officials said the agent was “forced to use his weapon in self-defense” and opened fire “to protect his life and the lives of others.” Officials said Porter was an “active shooter”.
Mourners gathered Sunday at a vigil organized by Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles for a man who was shot and killed on New Year’s Eve.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
According to a statement by the human rights group Project Islamic Hope, Porter was celebrating the new year by firing a gun into the air when an “overzealous” police officer shot him.
Firing firearms in the air, which poses a risk of injury or death, is a crime. The shooting of Porter is being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division, officials said. The FBI, the US Department of Justice and Homeland Security Investigations are also handling the case because a federal agent was involved.
On Sunday evening, mourners knelt at a makeshift memorial and wrote heartfelt messages to Porter and his family on a small board above his portrait. Porter is survived by a 9-year-old daughter.
Bishop Jack Wilson, a friend of Porter’s mother, was present at the meeting. An official at Solid Rock Mission Church said he remembered Porter as a child, when he always had a smile and had the manners of an old man in the South.
“He was full of life, and always smiling,” Wilson said. “It pains me that he did not take his last breath, but that he was deprived of his last breath.
Abdullah said Black Lives Matter Grassroots, an activist group within BLM, will meet with LA County Dist. He said. Nathan Hochman on Tuesday morning called for a federal investigation into the agent who killed him. Authorities had not identified the agent as of Sunday.
Hochman “was elected in support of police organizations from murderous police officers, like those who stole Keith’s life,” Abdullah said. “People have power, and people have needs.”
