Sanders was shot more than 33 times by five cops, who blocked his car in an alley with their patrol cars after following him, and then fired at him. They now justify their action by claiming he tried to run them over. Sanders, who was unarmed, had done nothing out of the ordinary other than "drive erratically," according to the cops. Sanders, 29, was mentally ill.

"You don’t shoot an animal that many times," said Ken Warren, Sanders’s oldest brother. "They don’t shoot, stop and shoot again. They were shooting to kill. You can’t justify this. My brother never did anything." Photographs of Sanders’s body taken by the family and displayed at the rally showed at least a dozen bullet wounds.

Sanders is the third mentally ill person shot by police this year. Minneapolis police chief Robert Olson said the shooting and number of shots were justified because Sanders "put a lot of people in danger today."

At the protest, organized by friends and family of Sanders, demonstrators chanted, "No justice, no peace, prosecute the police," and shouted, "Who’s next?"

"We want to fully prosecute," said Shewan McDearmon, Sanders’s cousin. He said the family is also demanding an independent investigation and wants the cops and media to stop trying to defame Sanders as a violent, dangerous man.

"He was never the type of person to raise his hand," McDearmon said. "He was a strong, proud, loving man who always stood up for his community," said Leslie Draine, a close friend.

Another rally to demand prosecution of the cops who killed Sanders is planned for November 18.

Ramona Black is a meat packer in St. Paul, Minnesota.  
 
 
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