Just after sunset last night, family and activists rallying on behalf of Alex Nieto, the Bernal neighbor who was killed in a 2014 officer-involved shooting, organized a march that took them from the site on Bernal Hill where Nieto was killed to the Bayview District. Once in Bayview, the Nieto group joined with the family of Mario Woods, who was killed in an officer-involved shooting in December 2015.
The parents and friends of 28-year-old Alex Nieto paid tribute at the spot where he was shot by police almost two years ago.
“Right now, we just have to show unity and strength in numbers and just ask for the community to come out and support us– the family, but not just the family. Today it’s our family. Tomorrow it might be yours,” said Maria, a cousin of Nieto’s.
His parents led supporters on the march to the Bayview to join the family of Mario Woods, the 26-year-old shot and killed by police last month.
At 3rd and Palou streets, dozens attended a rally for Woods before marching to the police station where both groups converged and officers stood guard.
Woods’ mother, Gwendolyn, was emotional as she confronted officers. Tensions eased as supporters formed a circle.
The mothers of Woods and Nieto came together for a symbolic ritual. They joined hands, shared hot chocolate and broke bread.
The trial in the Nieto family’s wrongful death lawsuit against the City of San Francisco is set to begin on March 1. The full text of the Medical Examiner’s report about Alex Nieto’s death is available here.
PHOTOS: Top, Alex Nieto memorial on Bernal Hill, January 6, 2015, by Causa Just Just Cause. Below, Gwendolyn Woods, mother of Mario Woods, with Elvira and Refugio Nieto, parents of Bernal neighbor Alex Nieto, by @justice4alex.
Bernalwood 
If only they had spent as much time worrying about Alex carrying a taser around the hill…
He was carrying a taser because he was a security guard who had to report for work later that night.