Police, friends, family and the community have said goodbye to the security guard and former police officer who was shot and killed while protecting a KRON news crew in Oakland last month.
Nishita, 56, was honored Thursday with a public memorial service at the San Jose Civic Center. A husband, father and beloved grandfather, Nishita was also an officer at several Bay Area police departments before working in private security.
The memorial was a blend of Buddhist and police traditions, opening with sutra chanting, incense burning and a dharma message from Buddhist Rev. Yushi Mukojima. Eulogies painted pictures of a kind-hearted family man who treasured his friends, alongside his sense of humor and duty.
"Kevin being 5-foot-3-inches tall, and myself being a whopping 5-foot-5-inches tall, we were most certainly the most vertically challenged team in the county," Colma Police Commander Sherwin Lum, who worked with Nishita for six years, joked during Thursday's memorial service. "We were challenged by many men, adored by men and complimented by the kids in the neighborhood on how real our police costumes looked, more often during Halloween."
Nishita was remembered for his sense of humor and kindness. He took in Maureen Campos as a teenager after her parents died, and she said Nishita "really filled in that role of a protective father."
"I know that I'm not blood-related, but he really was my 'ohana,' " Campos, using the Hawaiian word for family, said Thursday. "And I never felt left behind from him and Auntie Gina (Nishita, Kevin's wife)."
Police offered a procession, honor guard and folding of the flag in Nishita's honor.
The Oakland Police Department said on Monday it is now offering a $38,500 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.
Related
