Family, friends of KC police shooting victim call for change at prayer vigil
Family and friends of a 26-year-old man shot and killed by a Kansas City police detective last week called for change during a prayer vigil Sunday afternoon.
The vigil, arranged by the AdHoc Group Against Crime, was held outside the home at 40th and College Avenue where Cameron Lamb was shot and killed.
Family and friends who spoke at the event remembered Lamb as a happy, helpful man who adored his three children.
“It’s hard for me to believe that that thing happened the way it did,” said Lamb’s stepfather, Aqil Bey. “C.D. (Cameron) had got to the stage where he had realized his talent and his gift and he was trying to put it to work.”
The family said they have not heard from police since they were told Lamb was killed and don’t know anything more than what has been reported in the news.
“I just want the truth,” said Lamb’s mother Laurie Bey. “We’ve heard their side. There’s two sides to every story. Unfortunately my son is not here to tell his side. I just hope that, whatever happened, it will be revealed.”
The Kansas City Police Department released a statement Monday describing the circumstances that led to the shooting.
According to the statement, Lamb was seen chasing a purple Mustang in his red truck at 35th and College Avenue just before 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 3.
Officers in a helicopter began following Lamb and watched him back into a residential lot behind his home in the 4100 block of College.
Two plain-clothes detectives, the statement said, went to the house and made contact with Lamb in the backyard while he was still in the truck. One officer said he fired at Lamb after he watched Lamb pull out a gun and pointed it at the other officer who had approached the truck.
The statement said Lamb was found with his left hand hanging out of the truck’s window, a gun on the ground beneath his hand.
Lamb’s family said they struggle to believe that version of events. His father, Bobby Lamb, said his son was not the type of man to act the way police alleged he had.
Because the incident remains under investigation, Laurie Bey said, they haven’t heard anything from officers.
“I have no more of an understanding of what happened probably than you,” she said to a Star reporter.
In an email to The Star, the department disputed the assertion that limited information was provided to the family, saying detailed information about the circumstances surrounding the shooting was made public.
Department spokesman, Sgt. Jacob Becchina, said the department offered to meet with the family but their attorney, S. Lee Merritt, declined over social media.
The family, Becchina said, has also met with prosecutors.
Speaking at the vigil family members and friends told stories, and said Lamb was a “momma’s boy” who was constantly calling to check in on his family.
He had recently discovered his gift for working on cars, Aqil Bey said, and was hoping to pursue that as a career.
“Regardless of the situation, regardless if there is an indictment or charges or a conviction, we are all still left with the fact that this father of three is no longer with us. We’re still left with the fact that the potential is gone with it,” said Damon Daniel, president of the AdHoc Group Against Crime.
Lamb’s family members spoke about frayed relations between police and African Americans nationwide. Daniel and others who spoke at the vigil referenced the anxiety they feel as black men when they interact with police.
They said they hope that Lamb’s death can lead to progress in those relations and a reduction in violence.
“Prayerfully by C.D. going through this situation that he went through, more light will be shown on this situation in this city,” Aqil Bey said.
