On Saturday, August 1st, an Oakland police officer shot and killed carpenter and handyman Brownie Polk at a liquor store in East Oakland. Police claim he was threatening people, but employees and other witnesses have contradicted the police account and say they didn’t call the police.

“He was not some drunk that was wielding an ax, walking around threatening people,” Tiffany Townsend told KTVU. “He didn't do that. He carried tools with him all the time. Your car would be broke on the side of the road and my uncle would see you and help you.”

A store employee also told KTVU that “You could see her charging her gun at Brownie telling him to put his ax down while he was at the store,” said Tolin’s store employee Riad Elhai. “[The ax] was in his hand facing the floor... She was telling him to put his ax down. He would just tell her, ‘For what? I didn't do nothing'. And when he was trying to walk out the store… that's when she started to shoot the gun at him.”

Polk's 16-year-old son is now left without either parent since his mother died three months ago from cancer.

Photos of Vigil | Serial Killers of the Oakland Police Department Strike Again

Other recent police shootings and homicides in Oakland: Parnell Smith | Lovelle Mixon | Oscar Grant | Gary King | Jerry Andrew Amaro