On Saturday, Sept. 16, 17-year-old David Adrian Mendez Lopez will be laid to rest. His parents will say goodbye to a beloved son who was a senior at Howard High School and had dreams of becoming an engineer or a lawyer.
Mendez Lopez was shot and killed by police who had gone to his South Kelley Street home on Sept. 2 to answer a domestic dispute call.
In a Thursday statement from activist groups Concerned Citizens for Justice and Semillas TN, Mendez Lopez’s parents rightfully questioned why their son was taken from them.
(READ MORE: 4 Chattanooga officers on leave after fatal police shooting that killed teen)
“From the time officers were called on the scene, it took a mere 45 minutes for the Chattanooga Police Department to make the decision to open fire on seventeen-year-old David Mendez Lopez,” the news release stated. “Instead of calling a mental health counselor or a behavioral specialist to mediate and mitigate the situation, the CPD proceeded to shout from a bullhorn and deny the father access to David.”