Family of man killed to host candlelight vigil

The family of Malachi Williams is holding a candlelight vigil to honor his life on Thursday evening. Williams died after being shot by San Marcos Police on April 11. Multiple investigations are ongoing into the shooting at this time.

(Editor’s Note: For more information from the San Marcos Police Department on the investigation, see the article ‘Police issue statement, say man killed was armed’ in today’s paper.)

“My son was intelligent and a free spirit,” Shanta Miller, mother of Malachi Williams, said in a press release announcing the vigil. “He loved animals, loved to game, skateboard, read; he was a philosopher, really. He’s been reading since he was 2-years-old, and graduated high school at 14. He was funny, and he stood up for other people’s rights. He was an awesome kid. He participated in helping the unhoused before he chose to live outside himself – he just loved to be outside – and he stood up against police brutality in 2020 – the very thing that got him killed. I was getting ready to take him to a psychiatrist and a beautiful new home in a new town in May. He was about to start a new life and finally get a chance to pursue his musical talent. Now he’s gone, and the police won’t even let me see his body.”

A press release from local nonprofit Mano Amiga, which works “with communities directly harmed by criminalization or immigration to push for systemic change at the local level” said that Williams was a “22-yearold unhoused Black man who struggled with mental health issues.” It alleged that the police department had recently moved Williams from a spot he had been staying at. While Williams was unhoused, family members stated that was by choice and that he “was loved,” cared for and was not “thrown away.”

“My brother was loved,” Kay Miller, Williams sister, said. “Many want to paint the narrative that he was unhoused and therefore thrown away. That is untrue. He was loved and cared for by his family. He struggled with mental health and was unhoused by choice – but we checked in with him. Fed him. Clothed him. Housed him when he would accept it. He was in the process of creating his own safe place, and he was doing better. My brother was just a lost soul who was failed by a system designed against him. I will never be able to see my baby brother again, and wasn’t even granted the opportunity to say goodbye. Those with answers get to sleep and go home to loved ones, whilst my family mourns and wonders in agony.”

The press release lists “three main demands” the family has for the city and police department. Those include releasing body camera footage from the officers present, releasing the name of the officers who killed Williams and letting his mother see his body.

The vigil will begin at 6:30 p.m. at San Marcos City Hall on Thursday, April 25. The gathering will then walk to the San Marcos Public Library across the street “where Malachi spent a lot of his time reading and skateboarding, to celebrate his life.”