Crowd marches to commemorate Sahleem Tindle, shuts down W. Oakland BART for over an hour

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A protest and march shut down West Oakland BART station where trains did not stop for more than an hour Thursday evening. A commemorative vigil was held at the location where Sahleem Tindle was shot and killed by a BART police officer one year ago. 

The gathering of family, friends and community was organized to hold a day of remembrance for Tindle and included a candlelight vigil, but BART shut down the station, saying protesters are "blocking the faregates and it's become an unsafe situation for passengers." 

Cat Brooks, who attended the protest, said the gathering took place to continue a demand for justice for Tindle because protesters believe charges should be filed against the police officer who shot Tindle and prosecutors believe otherwise. 

"The demand for justice is not over," Brooks said.

A woman yelled, "Police murder cannot continue!" into a megaphone, to which fellow peaceful protesters responded, "Justice for Sahleem Tindle!" in unison.  

The BART alert was issued at 6:05 p.m. BART initially tweeted that the closure was due to police activity and that parallel bus service to their trains would be available from AC Transit Lines 14,29,62.

They tweeted at 7:12 p.m. that the station had re-opened.%INLINE%   

Tindle, who was 28, was shot in the back three times while he had his hands up by BART Officer Joseph Mateu. Mateu was just outside his jurisdiction as the shooting occurred.

Police were responding to a fight in the street in front of a barbershop where Tindle was reported to have shot another man and was allegedly struggling over control of a gun with him.

Police body cam video of the shooting was leaked, pressuring BART to release their full video of the incident. There are different interpretations of what the video shows. In the video, the BART officer is at the W. Oakland station when gunshots can be heard from outside the station. The officer responds and finds two men scuffling on the sidewalk before he repeats, "Let me see your hands!" and opens fire. 

In a report by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, a majority of the witnesses to the struggle said they thought Tindle was the aggressor. The aggressor was listed as Witness 1 in the report.  

The officer involved was reported to be eligible for a promotion last spring. The family has asked that he be fired. Brooks agreed, ""At the very least he should be fired."

Protesters left flowers and candles where Tindle was shot. 

Later this month, a march will be held when organizers will lift up Tindle, his mother Yolanda Banks Reed and others. 

One stop on the march will be BART where organizers have been before to demand justice for Tindle.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated when more details become available. 

Bay City News contributed to this report