A witness to the police shooting of an African-American teenager in Brooklyn, New York, is challenging the New York City Police Department’s claim he was armed. Sixteen-year-old Kimani Gray was walking down a street in the neighborhood of East Flatbush when two plainclothes officers approached him in an unmarked car. The officers got out to approach Gray and opened fire when, they claim, they saw him reach for a gun in his waistband. But speaking to the New York Daily News, a Brooklyn woman who watched the shooting from her window said Gray never had a gun in his hand and could not believe the officers had opened fire. Police say they recovered a gun next to Gray’s body. On Tuesday night, supporters held a protest in Brooklyn for the second consecutive night to denounce Gray’s killing. Community organizer Fatimah Shakur was among the speakers to address the crowd.

Fatimah Shakur: “Kimani Gray was only 16 years old. Parents should not bury their children. Police brutality is not decreasing, it’s increasing. So I need to hear — your power is in your voice. We don’t got to bash nobody’s store, nothing like that. We more better than that. But your voice is your weapon. Kimani Gray doesn’t have no voice no more. We have to be his voice.”

Tuesday’s protest was peaceful after several stores were vandalized following a rally the day before. New York City Councilmember and community activist Charles Barron said the killing of Gray has triggered anger over the marginalization of African Americans.

Charles Barron: “People are angry and frustrated. We’re living in poverty. We’re living in unemployment. In the richest country in the history of the planet earth, we have poverty that equals Egypt’s poverty, that caused a revolution. And then to have these police officers using deadly force to take the lives of our children, our youth out here, it’s just unacceptable. So this is the least that the community could do is to respond and resist. We always got to resist. We always got to provide vehicles that allow for the ventilation of our anger. And we must resist until we can figure out a strategy for victory.”