Armed robbery suspect shot by Oakland police identified
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The man police shot and killed in Oakland Wednesday was officially identified by the Alameda County Coroner's office Friday evening. His name is Nathaniel Wilks.
Oakland police say he was shot while armed and trying to carjack drivers after crashing his car during a chase.
Early Friday evening, about 150 people gathered at a vigil where Wilks was shot. People there are demanding more information from police.
At the corner of 27th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way there was a subdued gathering. Among the people gathered was the girlfriend and infant daughter of the 27-year-old man from Oakland.
The sister of Wilks' girlfriend, Jasmine Marshall, spoke to the media and said, "He couldn't speak and say, 'No. This is what happened.' So we've got to speak for our brother and this is what it's all about, us coming together to speak for our brother."
Marshall said she has known Wilks for years. She acknowledges he was not a saint, but she says he didn't deserve to be shot and killed by the police.
"You cannot tell me that this man would do anything to jeopardize his life. Maybe his freedom, OK yeah. OK, he might need to go... I don't know the circumstances were, but he didn't deserve to die. Period," Marshall said.
Police say, however, officers were forced to open fire after the armed robbery suspect led them on a chase, crashed into another vehicle, tried to carjack someone else and then pointed a gun at them.
Fatal officer-involved shooting sparks protest in Oakland
Organizers of Friday night's vigil say they don't believe Wilks aimed a gun at officers. They're hoping to raise money to pay for an independent autopsy. They say black people are treated differently.
"White folks with guns are considered mentally unstable, 'Let's call a mental health team, Let's talk them down.' Brothers and sisters with guns? It's shoot first and interrogate and investigate later, and that's unacceptable," Cat Brooks from the Anti Police-Terror Project said.
Friday's event was peaceful and ended at sunset.
