JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Amid chants of "No justice, no peace," friends and family of a 28-year-old man shot and killed by a Jacksonville police officer last month gathered at noon Friday outside the Duval County Courthouse.
The family continues to push for more answers from the Jacksonville Sheriff's office about what happened the day D'Angelo Stallworth was shot and killed by police.
"My heart continues to ache for my son," said Stallworth's mother, Angela Mack. "We're not getting any answers. Any."
According to police, officers were helping with an eviction at the Planters Walk Apartment Complex on Blanding Boulevard in May when they got into a confrontation with Stallworth, who was on the porch of the unit next door.
Investigators said that Stallworth put a gun to the chest of one of the officers and a struggle ensued. JSO said that Stallworth was able to run away, but turned around toward the officers before being shot.
Rick Block, attorney for the family, claims that Stallworth was shot in the back.
Block said the independent autopsy commissioned by the family found a lot of inconsistencies with JSO account of the incident.
Police originally said that Stallworth pushed a gun into an officer's chest before he took off down a flight of stairs. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, police said Stallworth turned back toward police, causing them to fear for their lives.
"It completely refutes the story of the officers," said Latrell Johnson, Stallworth's girlfriend.
Family members also said Stallword had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
"He was weak. At work, he couldn't even hold his ink pen," Mack said.
Block said the independent autopsy showed that Stallworth was shot multiple times in the back, and that the fatal shot was fired from behind him.
"We're very, very upset," Block said. "We got Mr. Stallworth's body after the medical examiner's office in Duval County did the autopsy. The Duval County medical examiner's office has refused to release material that our doctor needs. They refuse to cooperate. We have repeatedly asked for any and all information regarding the autopsy that was done weeks ago and they have refused to provide us anything. While our autopsy was done weeks ago and we already have preliminary results and have had them for weeks, which show that my client was shot in the back. Further, the independent doctor that we hired cannot complete his report until we receive crucial items from the medical examiner's office and they refuse to provide them. Even more, we have asked for the personnel files of the shooters from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and they refuse to provide crucial information as well."
Block said Dr. Michael Baden, a former chief medical examiner in New York state who worked on the Martin Luther King Jr. investigation, testified in the O.J. Simpson case and worked on the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, has agreed to look at the Stallworth case.
Stallworth left behind three children, 3, 4, and 5 years old.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has said the State Attorney's Office would complete its investigation first, then the JSO would conduct a review of the shooting. The investigation could take up to a year to complete.
The family previously has held a rally at the Landing in the end of May. Family and friends also held a protest days after the shooting at the apartment complex.