Sunday marked one month since the officer-involved shooting death of Steve Perkins.Â
Countless people showed up to Decatur City Hall to march, pray, and show support for Steve Perkins and his family.Â
Perkins' friends, family, and community members released balloons to honor him.Â
Protest organizers said the day is all about showing city leaders that the Decatur community is going to continue to show up and demand answers.Â
Local churches and pastors showed their support by joining the community in prayer in the name of justice for Steve Perkins.Â
Staff pastor Claudette Owens says Sunday's event was for the people of Decatur to show the Perkins family that they are not alone.
“I want justice and we want justice for the Perkins family, for this community to be healed, and for our leaders in power to understand that,†Owens said. “Even though we always hear what they can’t do, with all the power that they have, there must be something that they can do.â€Â Â
Owens hopes that once justice is served, the community will stay intact when this is all over.
The gathering comes one month after the officer-involved shooting and two days since the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency denied the Perkins family request for the body camera footage.Â
Protest organizer Terrance Adkins says he was not surprised that ALEA denied the Perkins family body camera footage request.Â
“We’ve seen enough footage ourselves that we didn’t even need to see ALEA's footage,†Adkins said. “We just wanted to offer them the olive branch to do us right in this case and they shut the olive branch down.â€Â Â
The Decatur Police Department is still conducting their own internal investigation into the Perkins incident, but some protesters say a month is too long to wait for answers and justice for Perkins.Â
Protesters say they will be at Decatur City Hall Monday afternoon for the city council work session dressed in all black to continue demanding answers.
There are no updates from ALEA on the Perkins investigation at this time. Â
