FULLERTON, Calif. — Seven months have gone by and Bill Brown says he still can’t explain to his children about what happened to their neighbor.

“They don’t understand why you’d call the police department to help you and you’d see a situation being handled a totally incorrect way,” said Brown.

The father has been clipping newspaper articles and printing out press releases from the Fullerton Police Department. Anything that has a mention of his neighbor, Hector Hernandez, can be found in his manila folder.

Brown says he knew Hernandez for 18 years. The neighbors became family friends. 

“Anytime he’d get home from work, he’d wander up to my garage and want to borrow stuff. He’d help me fix things just like he’d do with everyone in the neighborhood,” said Brown.

So it was a shock to Brown, when he witnessed his friend of nearly two decades confronted by Fullerton Police officers in front of his home, just a few doors down from Brown’s house in Fullerton.

“We were all sitting right here and we watched it all happen,” says Brown.

According to a video titled “Critical Incident Community Briefing 20-28991” posted by the Fullerton Police Department on YouTube, officers were dispatched to West Avenue on the night of May 27 after one of Hernandez’s sons called the police to report his stepfather for coming home drunk, hitting his brother and brandishing a knife. It was also mentioned that Hernandez had a gun and fired the weapon.

The police’s video also included body-worn camera footage of the shooting which showed Officer Jonathan Ferrell and his K-9 approaching Hernandez’s home while other officers had their guns drawn. From Officer Ferrell’s body-cam, viewers can see the officer directing his dog toward Hernandez, who was standing in his front yard complying with his hands up.

The dog doesn’t follow Ferrell’s commands at first, but then turns back towards Hernandez. At that point, Hernandez can be seen lowering his right arm and taking a knife from his pocket as the dog pulls him down. Police say Hernandez stabbed the dog near the shoulder blade.

“He had came outside and had done everything that the officers told him to do. It just looked like a normal procedure until all of the officers started screaming at him and then things all got chaotic,” said Brown.

Viewers can also hear the Ferrell shouting and firing two shots at Ferrell as he shouts “He’s got a knife.”

“In this incident, the officer simply lost control of himself. He lost control of his training, his dog then himself. He handled the situation totally incorrect,” said Brown.

Hernandez’s neighbor says he witnessed the moments leading up to the shooting and while it happened. He disagrees with the information that the Fullerton Police Department has made public regarding this incident.  

“He complied with them and at the time, he had his hands in the air. For some reason, a K-9 officer decided to run across the street into the yard and escalate the situation by releasing his dog on a man who had his hands in the air. Hector was dragged to the ground by the dog, in which during that time he was trying to defend himself from the dog,” said Brown.

Still in shock over what occurred seven months ago, Brown says he is still unable to sleep well at night. Brown started protesting outside of the Fullerton Police Department to share his story and what he says he witnessed that night on May 27. A few miles away, Theresa Smith has been storing two large cabinets of any mentions of her late son Caesar Ray Cruz.

Smith’s son was shot to death on December 11, 2009 by five Anaheim police officers. According to the police department, four of the officers fired their weapons because they say they saw Cruz reach for his waistband and believed he had a gun. Cruz was a father to four children.

“I think about how my son has been gone for 11 years, but it feels like yesterday,” said Smith. After her son’s death, Smith created an organization called Law Enforcement Accountability Network (L.E.A.N.) to support victims of police brutality and to push for legislation to hold law enforcement accountable for acts of violence.

The mother says for years she protested outside of the Anaheim Police Department and tried to get justice for her son. She says many families end up giving up when they feel like the law is not on their side.

“I will fight until I have to take my last breath or until the law changes. They need to stop killing people in this way when they don’t have to,” said Smith.

She has yet to meet Brown in person, but says she sent two mothers from L.E.A.N. to support him at one of his rallies for Hernandez.

“I now understand from talking with mothers that there is hope that we can change things, like a law or even stepping stones,” said Brown. The officer involved in Hernandez’s death is back on patrol, according to the Fullerton Police Department.

“As per our Policy and protocol for these types of incidents, there are three separate and comprehensive investigations. One is an independent investigation by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office regarding the legality of the Officer’s actions. The Officer’s actions, as it relates to policy, are also being reviewed by our Internal Affairs Unit. Another investigation is into the criminal culpability of the suspect,” said Corporal Billy Phu, Fullerton Police Department.

When asked about the release date for the records on this case, Hernandez’s autopsy report and for all of the body-worn camera footage recorded during this incident, Corporal Phu responded with this statement:

“A Community Critical Incident Brief video was released with Body-Worn Camera footage, audio and dispatch tapes relating to this Officer-Involved shooting. We also provided the Orange County District Attorney’s Office with all the evidence of this incident for their independent investigation.”

As for the Orange County District Attorney’s office, his public information officer, Kimberly Edds, released this statement: 

“The Orange County District Attorney’s Office conducts thorough, independent investigations of all officer-involved shootings and custodial deaths in Orange County. The District Attorney’s Office hires an independent board certified pathologist to conduct autopsies in any Sheriff’s Department custodial death or officer-involved shooting. This is done to ensure the independence of the District Attorney’s investigation and avoid even the mere appearance of a conflict due to the Sheriff’s dual role as the Sheriff and the County’s Coroner.

In order to further safeguard the independence of the investigation, the District Attorney ensures the District Attorney Investigator in charge of the investigation, who is a sworn law enforcement officer, is not a former employee of the law enforcement agency being investigated.

The District Attorney’s investigation is to determine whether there is any criminal culpability on the part of the law enforcement officers involved in an officer-involved shooting or custodial death. These investigations can be very complex and can take several months for toxicology and other necessary tests to be completed and reviewed. At District Attorney Spitzer’s insistence, separate biological specimens are preserved for independent testing by the family. Once the investigation and legal review is completed, it is ultimately reviewed by the elected District Attorney Todd Spitzer who then makes the final decision.”

While Brown continues to protest to seek justice for Hernandez, a father of two and longtime U-Haul employee, their neighborhood is preparing to celebrate their first Christmas without him. It’s been an old neighborhood tradition to wrap the large trees that line their street with red ribbon.

“The neighbors came down and wrapped Hector’s tree because he’s not here to do it anymore,” said Brown.

However, this year, the tree in front of Hernandez’s is wrapped with a green ribbon because he was a Philadelphia Eagles fan.

Brown plans on protesting and sharing his story in hopes justice will be served even if it takes years.