Family of Mathios Arkangelo and allies demand justice outside EPS stations

Anna Odo said she will continue to shave her hair in honour of her son Mathios Arkangelo, until she and her family see justice.

Arkangelo, 28, was fatally shot on a residential street in the Fraser neighbourhood in northeast Edmonton on the night of June 29. Police say a man matching his description had left the scene of a single-vehicle rollover on the nearby Anthony Henday Drive.

The province's police watchdog, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), is investigating the shooting.

"We want to come here. They can see our faces, and ... no police can do that again to our kids," Odo told CBC during a protest at an Edmonton Police Service station in the downtown core Wednesday night.

More than 50 people gathered Wednesday at the downtown station —  one of six protests that took place across police stations in the city. 

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Two weeks ago, an Edmonton police officer shot and killed Mathios Arkangelo, who was Black. Hearing about something like this can be difficult, especially for racialized people. Noreen Sibanda is a psychologist and executive director at the Alberta Black Therapists Network.

Odo said that the killing of her son has been a tremendous loss after making her way to Edmonton from Sudan over 20 years ago and trying to raise her children as a single mother. 

"I've got a lot of support from my community. Some people came from U.S.,  a lot of people came from Vancouver, from Toronto, around Canada, and it's heartbreaking to everybody," Odo said.

"I still have people living with me, like when I get up at night, going crying, they go after me and they pull me back. I get support from my Sudanese community and non-Sudanese. I got a lot of support from people, prayer ... because by myself, I couldn't do it."  

Haruun Ali is a community organizer and has been helping the family navigate calls for justice. 

"We wanted to show as a community that we're here standing in solidarity of family and their calls for justice, but also ... ensure that it doesn't happen to anyone else," Ali told CBC. 

"We wanted to show, especially the officers on the ground that, the community is aware of what's happening and that we will respond and we will come out in numbers, and that we will take action." 

EPS has not released the name of the officer who shot Arkangelo.

In a statement to CBC in mid-July, EPS noted the officer who fired the shots was placed on leave. 

Ali said the family and community allies have called for a transparent and timely investigation by ASIRT, an immediate suspension of the officer involved in the killing of Arkangelo, an immediate release of Arkangelo's autopsy report and the implementation of the City of Edmonton's Anti-Black Racism Action Plan.