"We expect a phone call from our brother and we don't get it, those are the hard times", is what Chyah Williams told those gathered Saturday inside the Willie Watkins Chapel in Lithonia.
She was 1 of 5 sisters saying goodbye to their brother Matthew Zadok Williams, who was shot and killed by DeKalb County Police earlier this month. Zadok was the only male and the youngest of 6 children.
Police say that Williams lunged at them with a knife on April 12 and that's when they shot him. They'd apparently received a call about a "prowler with a knife" in the neighborhood near Wesley Chapel Road and I-20.
On April 16, the family was shown body camera video of the shooting. While sister Hahnah Williams thanked Police Chief Mirtha Ramos for allowing them to see the video, she said that police should have recognized that her brother was in mental distress. "What we also saw was a man anouncing 'this is my home' several times. We saw him in his sanctuary, in his home when he was shot. What we saw, no one should ever see."
Family attorney Mawuli Davis said that Williams had owned the home for 15 years.
Earlier this week, a doctor hired by the family suggested, during a news conference, that Williams may have survived with medical attention. Dr. Jackson Gates said that Williams' blood pressure dropped "really quick" and that he "probably was not quite dead, and could have been salvageable."
Lawyers for the family contend that Williams was shot while he hid behind a piece of furniture and was left inside the home for more than an hour, until SWAT arrived and found him dead.
The family and Attorney Davis are now calling for the police department to show them the entire video of the incident surrounding the death of Zadok Williams.
A group of close to 100 were at Freedom Park Friday for a vigil for Williams. Chris Ann Lewis, Wiliams' mother, told the crowd "Let us see the truth. let the community know the truth."
During Saturday's funeral, sister Hahnah said "It's the support from the community that makes us stronger as a family."
The Williams family has taken their campaign for justice to social media. They are asking the public to do 5 things in a "Call to Action": Post/Share #justiceforzadok, follow @justiceforzadok social media pages, visit/bookmark/share http://www.justiceforzadok.com, text Zadok to 5558888, and demand the immediate release of the full bodycam footage by emailing and calling Chief Ramos and DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond.
There's also a gofundme page #justiceforzadok.