As calls to defund the police intensified nationwide, protestors demanded justice this week for Erik Salgado, 23, a Hispanic man shot and killed in East Oakland by California Highway Patrol officers on Saturday night after officers fired dozens of rounds at the car he was driving.
Neighbors who witnessed the shooting said that around 10:30 p.m., the car Salgado was in was stopped and was blocked on both sides by multiple CHP trucks.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Oakland Police Department, which is conducting an investigation into whether CHP officers violated the law or protocol when they shot Salgado, released a statement saying that Salgado “began ramming CHP vehicles” after officers tried to conduct the traffic stop.
A spokesman for the San Leandro Police Department said that the Dodge Hellcat Salgado was driving had been taken from a San Leandro car dealership that was looted during earlier protests.
Family, friends, and neighbors created a shrine to honor Salgado near the site of the shooting.
