SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - The family of Raul Rivera says they will visit the intersection where he died until authorities release his body.
Rivera was shot and killed by police on Hollister Street and Tocayo Avenue Sunday night after police say he came at them with a knife.
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"Words are hard to express, it’s just a deep-rooted pain and despair," Raul's sister said.
She said the cell phone video that captured the shooting was hard to watch.
"Every time we hear those bullets and see him being chased like that, we're just falling apart," she said. She said she spoke with a detective over the phone earlier in the week, who gave her a summary of what happened.
"Based on the timeline the detective gave me, (my brother) was walking all over," she said. "He did have a conversation with another police officer before (the confrontation), a couple of hours before that, and he should have known.”
Raul's sister told 10News that the family lost their father five years ago, and he never seemed to get over it.
“On top of all the pain and trauma, he had in his life," shs said. "And what I've seen on the footage, all that was to me was just a huge cry for help and wheeling in despair."
Raul was staying at a house nearby the intersection where he was shot. His sister says he often stayed with friends and family members. She's not sure what he was thinking that night, or where he was going.
“That's a mystery to us too,” she said. “My older brother Louie was going to take him out because his birthday May 16. He was waiting for him and waiting for him and got worried. He was concerned because the night before when he saw him was very restless.”
When looking at the video, she says she simply can't see what police and witnesses saw that day.
“I (see) my little brother, afraid and desperate.," shse said. "Running with nowhere to go...in my eyes he became that little boy again.”
