Candlelight Vigil Along Ventura Boulevard Remembers Zac 2 Years Later

(See the video above of his mother reading a poem and friends telling stories about Zac, and photos of the vigil. Add yours if you have some by signing in and clicking ADD PHOTOs.)

Friends, family, even his Kindergarten teacher, came out to commemorate on Sunday night at the second anniversary of the night he was shot by police in a Studio City parking lot behind .

His mother greeted about two dozen people on the corner of Laurel Canyon Avenue and Ventura Boulevard at the time of the shooting, around 9 p.m., and in silence and holding candles, they walked past The Counter, Mexicali, Umami Burger and Chipotle’s and then past a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department car and into the parking lot where he was mistakenly gunned down by police.

Carol’s fiancé Mark Carvell said, “He was such a good kid, this is really hard.”

Zac’s grandmother Helen Hanson recalled a favorite song of hers that he recorded for her and gave her and how he said, “I wished I lived in the ‘40s.”

His Granada Hills Charter High School friend Caitlin Cole tearfully remembered their band trip just before graduation. She is now taking college classes, and wished she could tell him about it.

“It’s so hard to come out here every year,” Cole said, crying. “He would always make me laugh with his stupid Minnesotan accent. He would not want us to be crying.”

Kindergarten teacher Kathy Cybulski remembered Zac as a happy child, and said, “I truly believe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am here to support Carol as a mother and my heart goes out to her.” 

Champommier filed a civil lawsuit against the U.S. Government for th wrongful death of her son which will be heard in Federal District Court on Nov. 6.

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