Hundreds March in Oakland on Anniversary of Oscar Grant’s Killing

Sunday marked the third anniversary of the shooting death of unarmed BART passenger Oscar Grant by a transit officer.

Hundreds marched from Oakland’s City Hall to the Fruitvale BART station where Grant was shot on New Year’s Day in 2009 during a confrontation with former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle.

“The pain is still hurtful,” Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, said at the vigil, according to the Oakland Tribune. She held a long red taper candle in the air and Grant’s daughter, Tatiana, sat nearby.

“I still lay awake at night crying,” Johnson said.

A jury convicted Mehserle of involuntary manslaughter in Grant’s death, but he was released from prison last June after serving less than a year of his sentence.

A 2011 Colorlines.com investigation that included a brief history of Oakland Police Department shootings found Mehserle is the only police officer charged by the Alameda County DA for a shooting.

Below is video of Grant’s mother and uncle speaking at the vigil on Sunday.

This article was originally published by Colorlines.