Fullerton, CA – On April 27, over 30 family members, Orange County residents and activists gathered at Lemon Park to grieve for Jose Naranjo-Cortez, who was killed by Fullerton Police Department on April 20.

The vigil was organized by Jose Naranjo-Cortez’s family and Community Service Organization, Orange County (CSO OC) a grassroots, working-class group that fights for community control of the police.

Fullerton PD released a short statement about the killing. According to the report, an officer claimed that Naranjo-Cortez was acting erratically. More officers arrived and started using force to “gain control.” They called for even more officers and put him in restraints. Later Naranjo-Cortez showed signs of a medical emergency and was pronounced dead at an unnamed hospital. While the report raises more questions than answers, what is clear is that Fullerton PD killed Jose Naranjo-Cortez.

His family gathered behind a white altar decorated with candles and bouquets of flowers. His sister, Mary Naranjo-Cortez, spoke first: “As of today, the police department has not reached out to me or my family. They have not shared any information. I called several times and have not received a call back. I requested a report. I was denied the report. Right now, we’re left with questions and no answers.”

Mary Naranjo-Cortez stated, “My brother is currently at the coroner’s office waiting for [Jose’]s body to be released so we can start giving him the rest that he deserves and so we can say our final goodbyes to him in the manner that he so wished for. But right now, we’re left with a huge void, not understanding why things happened the way they happened.”

Mary Naranjo-Cortez continued, “My brother was an amazing man. He was a good father. He was an amazing brother. He had a kind, gentle heart and he did not deserve this.” She added, “I pray that God will place in the hearts of the police department to come forward and stop being cowards.”

Guillermina Cortez approached the microphone and wept. “They killed my son,” she said. Family members embraced her as she trembled in pain. “They killed my son. It’s because he lived in the park. He lived in the park because he was homeless. But that was not a reason for them to kill people! He was doing nothing to nobody. He was helping poor people with clothes, with food. He always sympathized with poor people. So it gave me very hard, very painful feelings.”

Maritza Cortez spoke next about her cousin, saying, “Never in a million years have I thought that I would lose a family member in this manner.”

Maritza Cortez said, “This shines a light and exposes so much of the reality of these authorities and establishments that are put into place to protect and serve us, right? But at the end of the day, there are lives that are being lost, there are innocent lives. Justice will be served in one way, shape or form. This is what matters right now – community, and organizing and getting together and raising awareness for those who have been affected.”

CSO OC urges community members and activists to support the family by contributing to the Jose Naranjo-Cortez Memorial Fund.

Erika Armenta approached the altar with her two daughters. Speaking Spanish, she said, “First of all, I want to say to the impacted families here that I share in their pain. It is a very deep pain.”

Erika Armenta continued, “On the first of December, the police of Santa Ana killed the father of my children. He was named Noe Rodriguez. He was 31 years old. The police killed him in a very brutal way. They did not de-escalate the situation. They did not care about the life of a person that was not harming anyone. The cause of his death was multiple bullets that cruelly snatched away his life.”

As one of her daughters held her by the waist, Armenta explained that it had been five months since Noe Rodriguez was killed, yet the department had still not given her the police report, despite her lawyers' repeated requests. “My daughters need to know what happened to their father, and it's something that can happen to anyone. Therefore, let's continue fighting for justice for our loved ones, and for their memory to not be tarnished by the police departments’ lies.”

Yvonne de la Torre spoke next about her partner, Alejandro Campos Rios, who was killed by Fullerton PD March 6, 2024, stating, “He was outside McDonalds having a mental health crisis, but instead of calling a mental health crisis team to come out to assist them, they chose to call more officers. They called six total officers: five male and one female, to subdue a 150-pound man.”

While the report said that police shot Alejandro Campos Rios with tasers and bean bag projectiles, Yvonne de la Torre pointed out that they shot him at very close range and drew blood from his forearm, stating, “They say that he died at the hospital. No, he did not die at the hospital. He died right there in front of McDonalds at the front entrance. He bled out.”

Yvonne de la Torre said, “They’re just cowards hiding behind a badge. They think because they have a badge and a gun, they can do whatever they want. And they think that the families are not gonna come after them. They have another thing coming. They messed with the wrong families, because there are families out there fighting and fighting and fighting. They want justice for their loved ones.”

The vigil closed with a prayer with all attending. The family left tall candles and flowers at the base of a tree to commemorate Jose Naranjo-Cortez.

If you live in Orange County and are interested in CSO OC’s work fighting police crimes, please reach out to us:

Phone: (714) 367 – 6350

Instagram: cso.oc

Email: orangecountycso@gmail.com

#FullertonCA #CA #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #PoliceBrutality #KillerCops #OppressedNationalities #ChicanoLatino #CSOOC #Feature

Fullerton, CA – The morning of April 2, family members of Pedro Garcia rallied outside Fullerton City Hall and marched to the nearby police department to demand justice for their son, cousin and nephew. 19-year-old Garcia was killed by Fullerton Police Department (FPD) officers, who shot him almost 30 times after they arrived at the family home on March 15.

During the rally, they shouted chants including “Protect your blocks, against killer cops! No justice, no peace! No racist police!”

Garcia’s mother Gabriela Ordoñez-Campos says the department was called to de-escalate a family argument, and hoped that the police would help, given their prior trust and respect for FPD. She also made it clear that while Garcia had attacked a family member, the police were alerted he had been disarmed. Officers still arrived with their guns ready and shortly after, took Garcia’s life. He was on the lawn as ordered, with his arms in the air and proceeded to lift his shirt to show he had nothing in his waistband, which was when FPD opened fire.

Multiple witnesses, including many of Garcia’s family, make it clear that he had nothing on him and posed no threat to officers. The family attorneys have filed a wrongful death and civil rights violation claim against the city of Fullerton. They hope to take further action against the department and are demanding transparency about the events, as FPD has falsely reported to news outlets that Garcia reached for a pellet gun. Specific demands include the release of the full body camera video, DNA evidence of the weapon Garcia supposedly handled, and for the state attorney general to investigate the killing.

FPD has a history of killing unarmed people, including 50-year-old Alejandro Campos Rios in March of 2024. Again, the department was called to de-escalate a situation, and officers in body cam footage of the incident can be heard admitting that Rios was in a mental health crisis at the time. Instead of calling Orange County’s Mobile Crisis Assessment Team, the officers tased Rios and shot him multiple times directly with less-lethal rounds, ignoring department policy, killing him despite supposedly attempting to help.

Yvonne De La Torre, Rios’ partner, was also present at the rally and gave a speech in front of the department building, stating that the police “are trained to kill. They are not trained to help or assist – they are all murderers.”

Gabriela Ordoñez-Campos and her family are demanding justice for Pedro. They are demanding that the officers be held responsible, and they want people to know the truth about what happened to their son.

#FullertonCA #CA #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #PoliceCrimes #KillerCops

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!”

#FullertonCA #CA #InJusticeSystem #PoliceBrutality #KillerCops #OppressedNationalities #ChicanoLatino #CSOOC #Feature

Fullerton, CA – Over 30 people, including families impacted by police killings, protested against police brutality at the Fullerton Transit Center on Friday, July 5. The protest was spurred by the March killing of Alejandro Campos Rios by the Fullerton Police Department. Rios was homeless and experiencing a mental health crisis when police killed him.

The protest was held near the 13th anniversary of Kelly Thomas’s death, who was also brutally killed by six Fullerton PD officers near the Transit Center on July 10, 2011. Thomas was homeless and unarmed.

Yvonne De La Torre, Alejandro Campos Rios’s domestic partner of 29 years, spoke on his March 6, 2024 murder, stating, “My whole life has been turned upside down. They took away something from me that I can’t get back. It doesn’t give them the right to kill anybody because they’re struggling! All he needed was help. He didn’t need bullets, he didn’t need no taser, he didn’t need nothing!”

Pointing to an altar which displayed a watercolor portrait of Alejandro Campos Rios, she said, “He was having a mental crisis, and obviously PD doesn’t know about mental crisis and mental illness that some of these homeless people struggle with, and they took it upon themselves to murder him. He was just in his own little world.”

DeAnna Sullivan spoke on several police murders, including that of her son, David Sullivan, stating, “My 19-year-old son was murdered in Fullerton by the Buena Park Police Department. Officer Bobby Colon and Officer Jennifer Tran murdered my son. They pulled him over, and they didn’t give him time. Instead, they rushed at him and started shooting at him. They shot him in the front, they shot him in the side and they fucking shot him in the back, because that’s the fucking cowards that they are!”

During speeches a police officer tried to intimidate attendees and to identify organizers, but he was redirected away from the protest. A city vehicle parked about 20 feet away and surveilled the protest while a police drone hovered above.

An organizer with the group Dare to Struggle spoke on the issue of police violence, saying that in many cities across the U.S. politicians have increased funding since 2020 and that “four years later, we see that the role of police has not changed. They still answer mental health crises with bullets.” But while cities like Fullerton have increased police spending and have little accountability, other local struggles against police brutality have made gains.

This May, after a long legal struggle, the city of Buena Park was forced to pay the Sullivan family $3.5 million dollars after a civil jury found that officers Colon and Tran used excessive force when they shot and killed David Sullivan in 2019. And in Los Angeles, Sheriff Deputy Remin Pineda was charged with unlawful shooting of David Ordaz Jr., who was killed in front of his family in 2021. Last October, an LA County judge rejected a plea agreement that would’ve allowed Pineda to avoid jail time on assault charges.

After speeches on Friday, protesters began marching towards Fullerton Police Station holding signs that included “Justice for Hector Hernandez”, who was shot and killed by Fullerton PD on May 27, 2020 after Hernandez was attacked by a police dog. They chanted, “Indict, convict, send these killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!” Arriving at the station, they erected a piñata shaped like a police cruiser into the air and struck it to pieces.

Community Service Organization Orange County member Daniel Jimenez stated, “Friday's protest in memory of Kelly Thomas and against Fullerton PD was impactful. As many organizers mentioned, this is not a moment but a movement. We must keep applying pressure against these corrupt violent police agencies to further prevent the suffering of our people! We are stronger in community.”

On demands, DeAnna Sullivan declared, “We demand accountability! We demand that Fullerton PD be held accountable for their actions! Fullerton needs to release the names of the officers that killed Alejandro. Todd fucking Spitzer, the District Attorney of Orange County, needs to hold these killer cops accountable and stop letting them get away with murder!”

#FullertonCA #PoliceCrimes #FullertonPD #ToddSpitzer #AlejandroCamposRios #KellyThomas #DavidSullivan #HectorHernandez #CommunityServiceOrganizationOrangeCounty #DaretoStruggle

Fullerton, CA – On March 6, Fullerton Police Department (FPD) killed Alejandro Campos Rios with bean bag projectiles and a taser. Age 50 and homeless, Rios was dancing and apparently under the influence but not posing any threat. One officer fired a taser while another shot five bean bag shotgun rounds at Rios, who collapsed bleeding and clutching his body. Rios was pronounced dead after arriving at a hospital.

FPD has not released the names of the officers who killed Rios, who were put on administrative leave but returned to work later that week. A member of Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC) submitted a Public Records Request on March 20. In response, FPD said they would give a Community Briefing within 45 days of the incident, but that there were “numerous delay provisions” for the release of the officers’ names. Their names have still not been released.

Meanwhile, on March 25, FPD shot and killed Scott William Thompson outside a Wells Fargo bank. Thompson, age 57, allegedly demanded money from the bank and threatened to detonate a bomb if his demands weren’t met. Police killed Thompson when he left the bank. The bomb turned out to be a harmless replica and Thompson was unarmed.

These back-to-back killings and lack of accountability for the officers is unsurprising given that FPD has killed several people in the last several years with no consequences for the killer cops.

Just four years ago, on May 27, 2020 FPD killed 34 year old Hector Hernandez on his front lawn. His hands were raised and empty, and he was following officer commands when Corporal Jonathan Ferrell sicced his K9 on Hernandez. Groaning in pain, Hernandez defended himself with a knife from his pocket, and Ferrell shot Hernandez twice. The city of Fullerton paid $8.6 million to Hernandez’s family in a settlement, but OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer refused to file criminal charges against Ferrell.

On July 5th, 2011, FPD killed Kelly Thomas, who was homeless and struggling with mental illness. He was unresponsive to officers but showed no aggression. Two officers struck Thomas with batons, four officers pinning him down. He was tasered and bludgeoned by officers Jay Cicinelli, Joseph Wolfe and Manuel Ramos. Thomas died five days later at a hospital. The City of Fullerton paid $4.9 million to Thomas’s parents in settlements. While officers were charged, Ramos and Cicinelli were found not guilty on all charges, and charges against Wolfe were dropped.

The ACLU found that of the 142 police shootings in Orange County from 2010-2020, the District Attorney declined to charge officers in all cases, 24 of those cases under Spitzer.

This pattern of police killings with no accountability shows why we need community control of the police in Orange County. Chicano, African American, and other oppressed nationality lives will continue to be lost without it. We need the power to decide what happens to killer cops, the power to approve or deny policing policies that will impact their neighborhoods, the power to decide how much of their money goes to policing and more. CSO OC is a Chicana-led local grassroots organization that fights for peoples’ demands and control over killer cops. If you are interested in joining CSO OC, reach out to orangecountycso@gmail.com or @cso.oc on social media.

#FullertonCA #OCCA #CA #InJusticeSystem #PoliceBrutality #KillerCops #CommunityControlOfPolice #CSOOC #OppressedNationalities #ChicanoLatino #Feature

Fullerton, CA – On August 19, 2019, the Buena Park Police Department killed 19-year-old David Patrick Sullivan after a traffic stop in Fullerton. As body cam footage of this murder shows, Sullivan was unarmed and attempting to flee when BPPD Officers Bobby Colon and Jennifer Tran shot him seven times. In June, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer cleared Officers Colon and Tran, but Sullivan’s family is fighting back.

This Wednesday, August 19, the one-year angelversary of his murder, Sullivan’s family, Christian Contreras (one of their attorneys), members of Centro CSO, Carlos Montes, and other activists gathered at the site of Sullivan’s death for a rally. Sullivan’s mother, DeAnna, spoke to the press about Sullivan’s personality as well as the pain his absence has caused his family. She explained how David had already missed out on his brother’s wedding and listed all the different moments in David’s own life that he and his family will now never experience.

Deanna Sullivan said her son was becoming the person he was meant to become. She brought pictures from Sullivan’s childhood and a wooden board with a carved fist that Sullivan had made himself. According to his mother, Sullivan had an emerging political consciousness and had even considered traveling to the #NoDAPL pipeline protests. David was proud of his Chicano heritage. David graduated from high school and was part of marching band and drama class. He was working as a cashier at a local gas station and retail store.

After this rally, Sullivan’s family spoke at Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles’ weekly protest of District Attorney Jackie Lacey held outside of the LA Hall of Justice. While D.A. Lacey wasn’t involved in Sullivan’s case, his sister Samantha told the crowd of the importance of the space for the families of police brutality: “We were able to find our voice by coming to your protest and seeing how impassioned all these families are, who reached out to us to let us know that it’s okay to be angry, that it’s okay to want justice.”

Samantha said about her brother and the more than 600 people killed by police during D.A. Lacey’s term, “None of these people were given the chance to have any kind of fair trial, so every single person who was stolen is innocent and that’s a fucking fact.”

The Sullivan family has now joined forces with the community group Centro Community Service Organization (CSO) and will be leading a march contingent August 29 during the 50th Chicano Moratorium anniversary in East LA. For more information on joining the march: https://www.facebook.com/events/1203790706493709 To join or contact CSO: 323-943-2030, CentroCSO@gmail.com, or @CentroCSO on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

#FullertonCA #PoliceBrutality #DavidPatrickSullivan #CentroCommunityServiceOrganizationCSO