In the San Diego suburb of El Cajon, California, the family of Alfred Olango, a Ugandan refugee shot dead by police on Tuesday, is calling for peaceful protests and the release of a video showing the killing. Olango’s mother, Pamela Benge, said her son was distraught over the recent death of a friend and was having a mental breakdown on Tuesday when police confronted him. She says officers should have helped her son, but instead opened fire. Benge said her family arrived in the U.S. in 1991 as refugees seeking to escape violence.
Pamela Benge: “We have come from a war zone. We wanted protection. That’s why we’re here. I wanted the children not to be running around, being in fear every night, sleeping in the bush. And that’s why we’re here. Yes? Being a refugee, I know there are millions of refugees that are here, just seeking for a better place, a safety place. That’s all—safety. We wanted just to be safe. But now, I ask the question: Where should we go? I don’t know.”
Olango’s family and supporters are demanding the release of a cellphone video recorded by a bystander that captured the killing.