Surrounded by at least a dozen officers inside the Stockton Police Department’s command center Tuesday afternoon, Samantha Pathammavong repeated a refrain she’s said for months about her son, Rocco Robinson.
“I have got nothing,” her cries rose through the command center, a poster of her son — who was fatally shot by two on-duty SPD officers Sept. 9 — held firmly in her hand. “Why can’t you give me the police report?”
Roughly 20 demonstrators supporting Robinson’s family coursed through Stockton’s downtown that day, starting at the Cesar Chavez Central Library, before making their way to the command center and the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office.
At times taking over one-way roads during the city’s rush hour, the protest kicked off the Robinson family’s week of demonstrations, drawing attention to the six months since the 19-year-old’s death.
According to the family, SPD has yet to provide them a complete police report or an update into the city and county’s multi-agency investigation into the officers who fatally shot Robinson, Ruben Rillon and Kyle Ribera.
“Justice for Rocco,” yelled protestors, most made up of Robinson’s family and friends.
Each donned a lanyard showing four photos of what they described was a usually-smiling Robinson. Others held large posters of him. The picture, framed in a crown of red roses, was taken just before a prom dance, Pathammavong said.
“That’s why it hurts,” Pathammavong told the more than dozen officers. Her shirt, as she turned to speak to each, showing the photo of her smiling son. “I f-ing had to bury my son.”
On the back of said shirt, The message “Shot 9x in the back by Stockton PD.”
According to a critical incident update released by SPD a day after Robinson was killed, officers Ruben Rillon and Kyle Ribera were initially conducting a “proactive vehicle checkout” in the early evening in the area near Doray Court and Pixie Drive.
A spokesperson for SPD refused to answer why the two officers were in the area prior to the encounter, citing “the integrity of the ongoing investigation.”
Body camera footage of the incident shows Rillon and Ribera approach Robinson, the teen sitting in a double-parked car, a sandwich bag of chips in his hand.
“You’re double parked here,” Ribera said in the footage as he walked up to Robinson and pushed into the already open door. “Is this your car?”
“No,” mumbled Robinson as he shook his head and stood up before sitting down again after a gesture from Ribera.
“You have something on you?” asked the officer as Robinson clutched within his sweater.
It was the last question Ribera asked before dragging Robinson out of the car. As Ribera and Rillon each held onto Robinson, their handguns were already pointing at his back.
“We’ll f-ing shoot you, stop right now,” said Ribera. “We’ll f-ing shoot you, do you understand me?”
A magazine and a loaded, unserialized handgun, according to police, fell from Robinson’s person before Ribera and Rillon shot multiple times into his back as he fell.
Robinson was later declared dead after he was transported to an area hospital, according to a police incident update.
The shooting, later broadcast on social media following SPD’s release of the excerpted body camera footage, was traumatic for her family, Pathammavong said, especially for Robinson’s underage family members.
Robinson’s cousin Hem Kailani, 17, said she thought her mother was “joking” when she shared what happened.
“You never think it’s real,” Kailani said through tears right before she and her family headed to the police station.
Throughout the march, Kailani stood close to Elizabeth Thor, who had been Robinson’s girlfriend for five years. At moments inside the police station, Thor hid her face behind a poster of Robinson as she silently cried.
Since his death, Thor said they’ve grown close, sharing fond memories of Robinson. Before the march, they both laughed at remembering Robinson’s dreams of one day becoming a rapper.
“He’s not a bad person,” Kailani said. “He’s not.”
Pathammavong, who said she has repeatedly called SPD to request the full police report, said she’s been told it cannot be released since it is a pending investigation. The “multi-agency” investigation, according to police, includes those from the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigations, the California Department of Justice and the San Joaquin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“You guys say it’s an ongoing investigation, but then you let the police be out, riding around in the street,” Pathammavong said during a roughly 10-minute exchange with Captain Gary Benevides and Lt. Hector Alaniz inside the command center. “So you’re telling me that they didn’t f-ing do nothing?”
Alaniz, in a comment to Stocktonia after the protestors had left to create a makeshift memorial of others shot by Stockton police outside the station, said SPD “can’t speak” about the incident “right now.”
“There is a process … and I know everybody wants answers,” Alaniz said. “Sometimes we can’t give them those answers until it’s completely investigated.”
Right before the march, Pathammavong spoke between drags from her cigarette, a habit she said has only increased since her son’s death. She’s been given “nothing” by police, Pathammavong said, including some of Robinson’s belongings and clothing.
“They’re not doing nothing,” Pathammavong said. “Like nothing happened. Like Rocco didn’t matter.”