NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio — A rally to demand justice for Jun Wang, a 45-year-old man shot and killed by North Royalton police during an incident that occurred in 2016, was held outside of the North Royalton Police Department Saturday.
You can watch video of the rally in the video player below:
According to News 5 reporting from 2016, Wang was being served a probate order by police at the request of Wang's sister Julia Rielinger due to his history with mental illness.
After officers arrived to serve the order, Wang stabbed an officer with a knife, according to information provided by police in 2016.
Six years ago, Rielinger said she had asked officers if she could talk to her brother before they entered the home, but officers did not allow that to happen. With Wang wielding a knife and stabbing an officer, another officer opened fire and struck Wang, killing him.
"I think in the chaos he did not know what was happening and he grabbed the knife and tried to fight him," Rielinger said after the incident. "If they let me go talk to him it probably would not have happened. The police would not get hurt and he would not be dead."
Rielinger and activists spoke to News 5 reporter Catherine Ross on Sunday during the rally. Watch and read Ross's latest report here.
The Jun Wang Foundation organized the rally Saturday with members of the community, family and friends, demanding justice for Wang, saying that new evidence will show Wang was "unlawfully executed."
Jun Wang was a peace-loving artist, a member of the Catholic community, and a beloved brother, family member, friend, volunteer, and neighbor who deeply loved all people and our democracy. Jun suffered a chronic mental illness after persecution from his participation to promote US democracy in China in 1989, and his sister Julia helped him access healthcare, medicine, and the resources he needed to live his best life. On October 28, 2016, officers in the North Royalton Police Department ended his life when they were called to implement a probate order. Instead of assisting him into the hospital, Jun was unlawfully executed while in custody. North Royalton PD has been hiding the truth to the public since the tragic night of October 28th, 2016. Newly discovered evidence speaks the truth other than the lies North Royalton PD has put out in the public. The community deserves to know the truth.
Demonstrators are demanding that evidence in the case from the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department given to the North Royalton Police Department be returned to the Medical Examiner's Office—and that Patrolman Jason Kimmel and Kip McDonald, who were involved in the shooting, be stripped of their duties and prosecuted.
Additionally, the demonstrators demand prosecutors Michael O’Malley and Dean Holman be "disciplined and removed from the post."
RELATED: Family, activists demand justice in 2016 North Royalton police shooting
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