KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Friday marks two years since Cameron Lamb was shot and killed by Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department Det. Eric DeValkenaere.
About two dozen community members and activists greeted Lamb's family on the street near 42nd and College, the location where he was killed.
They held signs and stood in a line of solidarity marking the two years that have gone by.
“We are here to celebrate life now,” one person said. “Cameron was a man that lived and was loved. He had kids, he had family, nieces and nephews.”
Lamb’s family showed up in their son’s favorite Chiefs gear, releasing nine balloons.
“Nine seconds that it took that officer to get out of his car and shoot my son,” said Aqil Bey, Lamb's stepfather.
Civil rights activists continued the call for local control over KCPD, multiple times calling for the removal of Chief Rick Smith.
“We want an immediate end to police brutality and the murder of all Black people,” said a member of The Revolutionary Black Panther Party-KC Chapter.
This follows comments revealed in a video obtained by KSHB 41 in which a source says Smith allegedly called Lamb a "bad guy" at the scene of his death.
“I’m here to make sure there is a reverse narrative that Cameron Lamb was the bad guy,” said Melissa Robinson, KCMO Councilwoman. “It’s so critically important for us to make a plea to the people in the community that if this happened to Cameron Lamb, it can happen to anyone.”
Smith plans to retire in 2022.
Meanwhile, a court will sentence DeValkenaere in March.
