"Going through my son's clothes today, and I found the birthday card that I gave to him a week before he passed," recalled Genevieve Huizar, whose son, Manuel Diaz, was shot and killed by Anaheim police on Saturday.
Diaz, 25, was later found to be unarmed.
There was another deadly shooting involving Anaheim police the next day, and the two shootings prompting citywide unrest and vandalism, something Huizar does not support.
"If there's a peaceful march, if there's a peaceful prayer in his honor, I'll be there. But anything with hate or violence, or other people getting hurt, I won't be there," Huizar said.
In an exclusive interview with NBC4's Vikki Vargas, Anaheim's police chief says neighbors to the deadly police shootings allow crime to occur.
"They're not taking any action to prevent it. Is it their responsibility? Well I don't know. They say that's the police's job, but then don't complain to the police or others when we come in and enforce the law," Chief John Welter said.
Huizar says it's unfair to pin this on the community.
"I feel that every neighborhood in America might have their little problems. It doesn't give an officer a right to shoot a young man in the back," she said.
The family of Manuel Diaz on Tuesday filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Anaheim.
"Mr. Diaz is not the suspect. He is the victim," attorney Dana Douglas said. "Regardless of what the police association is saying, Mr. Diaz is the victim in what is essentially a murder here."
