Fullerton, CA – On Friday, September 6, over 30 family members, community members and activists joined a vigil to demand justice for Alejandro Campos Rios. The vigil was held outside of a McDonald’s restaurant where Rios was murdered by Fullerton Police Department on March 6 while experiencing a mental health crisis.

Connor Atwood with Dare to Struggle kicked off the vigil by stating, “For six months the killer cops have gotten away with it. For six months, they have not released the names of the officers that pulled the triggers. For six months they have not been fired from FPD. And for six months, while we should have been getting justice ,these killer cops have continued to walk the streets. We’re here to say no, we’re here to demand justice for Alejandro!”

Chants of “Indict, convict, send these killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!” and “FPD you can’t hide, we charge you with homicide!” began on a busy street where traffic passing by honked in support.

Yvonne De La Torre, Campos’ partner, read a letter from his granddaughter Jazmyne, who just had her tenth birthday. She wrote: “I miss you so much. My wish was to bring you back, that’s how much I love you and miss you. I’m really sad you are not here with me. I wish I had a chance to say goodbye.”

De La Torre then spoke about Rios. “He didn’t deserve what he got. He still had a lot of life; he had just turned 50 in January, but Fullerton PD chose to take his life instead of helping him. They could’ve talked him down, but they chose to shoot and kill him right here in front of the McDonald’s. All because he had a mental illness crisis at that moment. We’re here to seek justice. Something needs to be done about all these killings that are happening by police departments from all counties. We need to unite to make a change because this can’t happen anymore!”

Melissa Miramontes, who grew up with another victim of police terror, Hugo Cachua, then spoke to demand justice for him, stating, “He was murdered by an off-duty medical leave police officer from LAPD who was not in uniform. He was not in a police vehicle, but yet this pig decided to kill our brother for a fender bender.”

Miramontes urged the community to take action before these killings continue, stating, “This can happen to you! Never did we think this would happen to us! It can happen to your family! Fuck the crooked ass cops and fuck whoever stands with them! Justice for our families! Justice for the people who are gonna lose their fucking lives in the future! May the cops pay! Don’t let it be your family!” She asked for the community to sign their petition.

David Pulido with CSO Orange County then spoke and described the recent killings by FPD. Pulido stated, “The Fullerton Police Department has killed at least five people since 2020, three of them this year. Lorenzo Roger Hills III was killed July 15, Scott William Thompson March 25, and Alejandro Campos Rios that very same month on March 6.” He stated that in order to get justice for those killed, “We need community control of the police. We must claw back power and put it into the hands of the people. We do want justice and we have to take that power back however we can. We want to demand justice for Alejandro Campos Rios, that the names of the officers who killed him be revealed, and that they be convicted and jailed!”

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