Today the family of Hector Morejon is deeply in shock and mourning the death of their beloved teenage son and brother. Lucia Morejon, Hector’s mother, wants to respond to the false suggestion made by the Long Beach Police Department in their press release of yesterday, that her son was a gang member. There is no truth to that suggestion, but it reflects the Police Department’s immediate tactic to attempt to make the victim of a police killing (here Hector) appear like a bad person.

Hector was a sweet son and favored little brother. The Morejon family requests that the Long Beach Police Department immediately release the name and badge number of the officer who is responsible for killing Hector who was unarmed. The family believes that the truth will show that no gun or any weapon was found where Hector was killed. The Morejon family demands that the City of Long Beach and its police department suspend the shooting officer. Most important, the family requests that Long Beach Police Department asks the U.S. Department of Justice to perform the criminal investigation to show that Long Beach City and Police believe that a fully transparent independent criminal investigation should be conducted to determine how and why an unarmed teenage kid was killed.

Lucia Morejon would like to share her loss with everyone, especially the mothers and fathers and all the young boys and girls. She was home when she heard the shot that injured Hector. After a few minutes she heard sounds in the alley behind her home and when she went to the back so see what was happening, she saw many police. Then she saw her son as he lay in an ambulance. When he saw her, he propped himself partially up and cried to her, "Mommy, Mommy, please come, please come!" She walked towards the ambulance, identified herself as his mother, expecting to ride with him to the hospital, but was pushed back by a man in a blue uniform. She asked what happened and was told that no one knew.

At the hospital, Mrs. Mojeron and her family were not allowed to see Hector until he was dead. She asks that all the families in Long Beach and everywhere ask for justice and accountability from the Long Beach Police and that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate this killing.