Vigil to mark 10th anniversary of Oscar Grant's shooting death by BART officer
OAKLAND (BCN) A vigil will be held Tuesday to remember Oscar Grant III, who was fatally shot 10 years ago by a BART police officer.
The event will be held from noon to 4 p.m. at the Fruitvale BART station, where the 22-year-old Hayward man was shot on New Year's Day in 2009.
Speakers, poets, artists, community leaders, activists, lawyers and educators at the vigil will join family and friends. The Oscar Grant Foundation, led by Grant's mother Wanda Johnson, is hosting the event.
Former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle said he meant to use his Taser stun gun instead of the service revolver he used to shoot Grant on the platform of the Fruitvale station shortly after 2 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2009.
Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison. He was released from custody in 2011.