Members of a California Vietnamese community marched outside government offices Tuesday, calling for an open grand jury inquiry into a police shooting that killed a Vietnamese-American man in May.

The 27-year-old Pham was waving a knife when he was shot after cutting his brother Brian, according to local media reports.

The 50-60 protestors, which included Pham’s friends and family, local community groups and other citizens, presented the DA’s office with a petition of 1,000 signatures calling for the grand jury inquiry into the incident to be opened to the public, said regional news networks.

“In this case, our belief here at the DA’s office is that the process works better when the grand jury remains closed,” said District Attorney spokesman Nick Muyo, according to KTVU.com. The grand jury is scheduled to release its findings in about a month

Pham’s father, Vinh Pham, was quoted by the website as saying his family had called 911 when Daniel, who he said was mentally ill, started acting out.

“We want to know the reason why my son had to die. We want to call 911 for help. We don’t want to call 911 for kill,” said Pham.

Brian recalled that he had yelled out several times “Don’t shoot my brother!” in English. “After that I heard shots.”

But the police said they had to fire because Daniel refused to surrender.

The case reminded San Jose of an incident six years ago in which a city police officer shot and killed Vietnamese-American woman Bich Cau Tran when she refused to let go of a vegetable peeler, according to KTVU.com. The incident outraged the Vietnamese-American community, resulting in an open grand jury that cleared the officer of wrong-doing.

Source: Thanh Nien