Sacramento mourns man fatally shot by police

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento church is the latest site of mourning over the death of 22-year-old Stephon Clark at the hands of police last week, with family, friends and strangers gathering Wednesday for his public wake.

Some attendees wore black shirts calling for justice, while one woman held up a clenched fist as she exited the church. Others cried and hugged.

“This feels like the 60s, it doesn’t feel like 2018,” said Cynthia Brown, who said she knows Clark’s grandfather. “We’ve definitely regressed.”

Brown said she’s already talked to her 10- and 15-yearold grandsons, who joined her at the wake, about ways to avoid getting shot by police.

“To me, those could be Stephon Clark,” she said.

Clark’s funeral will be held today, and the Rev. Al Sharpton plans to deliver the eulogy.

Clark was killed March 18 when two Sacramento police officers responding to a report of someone breaking car windows fatally shot him in his grandparents’ backyard. Police said they believe Clark was the suspect and he ran when a police helicopter responded, then did not obey officers’ orders. Police said they thought Clark was holding a gun when he moved toward them, but he was found only with a cellphone.

For all the angst and raw emotions, grieving and weary family members are skeptical any substantive change will result before the next young black man dies from police gunfire and siphons away the national media and banner headlines.

“So we appreciate the conversation, but conversation without implementation of some true reformation means nothing,” Clark’s uncle, Curtis Gordon, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. “It brought us to this moment, but what about tomorrow? What about next week?”