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Last Chance for Change marched through downtown Syracuse Saturday afternoon to protest Syracuse Police Department officers’ killing of Steve Smith.

Two SPD officers shot and killed Smith on Sept. 4 during an exchange of gunfire at a Sunoco on State Street, SPD Chief Kenton Buckner said in a press conference that afternoon, according to Syracuse.com. Bucker said the department has placed the two officers on leave as an investigation into the shooting proceeds.

Buckner did not comment on who shot first in the altercation and has not released the identities of the officers involved. The department will release body camera footage from the shooting at “the appropriate time,” he said during the press conference.

Several dozen demonstrators with Last Chance for Change chanted Smith’s name on Saturday as they marched through the streets, flanked by cars. Protesters also blocked traffic at multiple intersections, including one intersection adjacent to the location where SPD officers shot Smith.

One demonstrator who spoke at the march decried how the police department and local media have portrayed Smith. SPD did not immediately try to contact Smith’s family after the shooting, and the family had to take it upon themselves to identify his body at the morgue after the officers killed him, the demonstrator said.

“That’s how crazy, and sick, and sadistic the police department is right now,” one demonstrator said. “They thought that (Smith) was someone no one was gonna know, because it happened on the North Side.”

Smith’s friends and family attended the march, according to an Instagram post by Last Chance for Change.

As the protesters encircled the intersection beside the Sunoco, another demonstrator said city residents need to continue fighting for change, referencing Last Chance for Change’s 40 consecutive days of marching over the summer. In the wake of those marches, local activist groups brought a list of demands to Mayor Ben Walsh, several of which Walsh agreed to.

“We got to make a change, and if we don’t do it now, we’re never gonna do it,” the demonstrator said. “We marched for 40 days last time. If we got to do another 40 days, we will.”

Published on September 20, 2020 at 1:08 am

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu