26-year-old Andrew Ocasio told his mother’s story to a crowd gathered at McCarren Park during a Black Lives Matter Protest on Friday.

Three years ago, Sandy Guardiola, 48, was killed by a police officer in her upstate home. At the time of her death, Guardiola was a parole officer. Investigators said the Williamsburg-native did have her service weapon in her home when an officer entered her home while conducting a wellness check.

“Our mother Sandy was shot three times - once in the head, once in her arm, once in her abdomen,” said Ocasio. “I want everyone to ask themselves this question right now: what would you do if you were sleeping or napping or in bed and someone just appears in your bedroom?”

The officer who shot Guardiola was never charged. Investigators and her family are still at odds over how the incident played out.

However, the similarities between her case and so many others brought to light in recent weeks compelled her son to come forward and share her story. He says if this could happen to her, it could happen to anyone.

“It’s frightening and alarming that you could be involved in law enforcement, you could be in law enforcement, and just because you might be a person of color you’re going to get treated differently,” he said.

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Since the Sunday following the death of George Floyd, Ocasio has given five other speeches about his mother at protests like the McCarren Park one. He says the majority in attendance have never heard about his mother’s case, but by the end of this one they were shouting her name.

He says America may not have been ready for change at the time of his mother’s death, but he thinks her case can help move the cause further right now. He hopes the reforms that come out of this will ensure other families won’t have to experience what he went through.  

"We can no longer stay silent," he said. "My family and I have this story that needs to be heard, and I need to start honoring my mother because if I don’t speak on my mother's story and I just let it continue to be silent and get colder and colder you know then I’m not honoring her life."

Ocasio says while his mother's story is important to the Black Lives Matters movement, she was actually of Puerto Rican descent. But she was very dark-skinned. He believes had that not been the case, he may not have had to tell her story in McCarren Park.