Relatives, Tustin Residents Protest Fatal Police Shooting Of Unarmed Man

TUSTIN (CBSLA.com) — A crowd protested outside a Tustin City Council meeting, voicing outrage after police last week fatally shot an unarmed man when responding to a domestic disturbance.

Officers initially reported the young father was armed with a knife but a later report revealed a weapon was never found.

The man's mother, Leticia Villa, told CBS2/KCAL9 reporter Stacey Butler her son, Robert, was a loving man and a wonderful father.

She was joined by relatives and community members in Tustin Tuesday night demanding answers in a shooting that they say made no sense.

"My grandbaby asks every day where his dad is and we can't tell him," Villa said while sobbing. "Our lives last Monday changed tremendously. Tremendously."

The crowd held picket signs and screamed at police officers monitoring the tense situation, protesting what they say was a blatant act of police brutality.

Outside the meeting, officers stood in riot gear.

"You terrorize our community. You kill our children. And then you act like heroes," one man screamed at officers.

"There's been a lot of screaming and yelling, but there's one question that we want answered: Why was it reported that he had a knife when there's no evidence of that?" the family's attorney Huberto Guizar said.

The Orange County District Attorney's Office and Tustin police are investigating the case, while the officers involved remain on paid administrative leave.