By Vaiva Utaraite
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The mother of a victim of a police shooting is speaking out, noting she does not know if San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is going to pursue charges against the officer who shot her son.
Said the mother, Cleo Moore, in an Op-Ed last week:
“In 2017, San Francisco police officer Kenneth Cha shot my son, Sean Moore. Sean was standing on the front steps of his home, unarmed and suffering a mental crisis when Officer Cha shot him. The police were called to Sean’s home because of a noise complaint that accused him of knocking on the wall.
“Even though I had called the police in the past for support with my son’s mental illness, the police who arrived on the scene denied knowing anything about his condition and proceeded to threaten him, beat him with batons, pepper spray him, and shoot him twice.
“Sean was unarmed. He was in his own home. He wasn’t hurting anyone.”
Moore’s struggles with mental illness were well known and his mother believes “he was criminalized due to those mental health needs.”
Moore died on Jan. 20, 2020, from the gunshot wounds he sustained in the unprovoked altercation three years ago, stated the Marin County coroner’s report, which also listed his death as a homicide.
“My son did not deserve to die. He needed care, not violence. I lost him at the hands of the very people who are supposed to protect us,” said Cleo.
In the wake of the recent murder of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police officers, SF DA Jenkins called for “accountability” for the “mob violence and abuse of power” that occurred.
Accountability is exactly what Cleo said she has been fighting for in the years since her son’s death, noting that “the officer who killed my son hasn’t been held accountable and is still walking free. District Attorney Jenkins has thus far done little to change that.”
Officer Cha was charged with voluntary manslaughter and assault with a semi-automatic firearm in 2021, pertaining to the incident that occurred with Moore.
This was only the second instance of a homicide charge against an on-duty officer in San Francisco’s history, but he was charged by former progressive DA Chesa Boudin, who was recalled last year and replaced by Jenkins.
Since this charge was filed, Cleo said she has been left in the dark.
Cleo said Jenkins fired the attorney who was working with Cleo and kept her updated about her son’s case. Since then, Cleo said she has “received zero updates about the case” and is “in the dark about whether [Jenkins] plans to pursue the charges filed in 2021.”
In her candidacy for running, Jenkins stated that her priority would be toward victims’ rights, said Cleo, who claims she feels completely ignored.
Cleo has gone to countless court dates regarding her son’s case, “only to learn that the case has been delayed again at the request of Officer Cha’s lawyers, without a single objection from the District Attorney’s Office.”
Cleo added her presence has never been acknowledged in court by either Jenkins or her Internal Investigations Bureau.
Cleo said, “Families who have lost loved ones at the hands of police are also victims of violence. We deserve basic respect, common courtesy and support. I have had none of that from Jenkins or her staff in charge of this case.”
