Family of Man Killed in Officer-Involved Shooting Want Answers

Friends and relatives gathered at the corner of Dyer Street and Meteor Drive Saturday evening in memory of a Union City man killed in an officer-involved shooting last month.

Amos G. Smith, 26, was fatally wounded around 10 p.m. on March 2 — one of four officer-involved deaths that weekend. 

Police say Smith ran away from officers after a traffic stop, reached into his waistband, pulled out a handgun and pointed it at them, causing them to fire in self-defense. His weapon was found at the scene, according to police.

Police have released few details since the incident. Now Smith’s loved ones are demanding answers.

According to KTVU, dozens of people gathered Saturday with some holding signs with messages such as, “Shoot to yield, not to kill.”

Flyers for the vigil stated that Smith was "Shot in the back in the street."

“He was a good young man,” Smith’s mother, Yolanda, told KTVU.

Family members told KTVU that Smith worked at a Ford plant and had recently received a truck driving license.

According to KTVU, Yolanda Smith said that she learned of her son’s death several days after the incident and that the only time officers came to her home was to take his car’s registration information.

The family has since hired a civil rights attorney.

Adante Pointer, an attorney from the office of John Burris, who represented Oscar Grant’s family, was at the vigil Saturday.

Pointer told KTVU that he will help “the family as well as the community get to the bottom of this.”

Watch the KTVU report here.