Family, friends and supporters of the late Julian “Jules” Collender, who was gunned down by Brea Police in front of his Yorba Linda home on June 30, plan to hold a candlelight vigil in front of the Orange County District Attorney's Office in Santa Ana this afternoon.
“We have asked District Attorney Tony Rackauckas to accept hand delivery
of a petition demanding accountability for Julian's killing signed by
over 7,500 people,” reads a statement from the “Justice for Julian” campaign. “We have also asked him to make a statement to vigil
attendees regarding Julian's case.”
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Brea Police, who patrol Yorba Linda, say that Collender was a suspect in an armed robbery on June 29. Waiting outside his parent's home at 12:25 a.m. the next morning, officers killed Collender with a single shot from a high
power assault rifle after he emerged from a vehicle that had pulled up to the home.
His family, which is suing the department and seeking answers through appearances before the Yorba Linda City Council, note Collender was unarmed, had no prior record and, they suspect, had been falsely accused of the earlier robbery in the Mercado Del Rio shopping center parking lot.
The peaceful vigil is scheduled to being at 3:30 p.m. at 401 Civic Center Drive, Santa Ana.
You can read more about the case . . .
However, the continuation of the vigil statement pretty much sums it up:
The end of December marks the six-month anniversary of Julian's death. Julian was 25 years old and was shot and killed by the Brea Police in front of his home in Yorba Linda, CA. Julian had no prior record. The Brea police shot and killed him with a high power assault rifle even though he was unarmed, alone, and surrounded by police. Neither the police nor the OCDA has provided any explanation for why the police shot and killed Julian; they are withholding the names of the officers involved and have not released a police report. The now-retired Brea Police Chief Hutchinson, has not offered condolences to Julian's family. Julian's case is currently under investigation by the OCDA, who will decide whether to pursue criminal charges. The OCDA has never pressed charges on an officer shooter before.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.