WASHINGTON — It has been more than one year since 22-year-old Marqueese Alston was shot to death by D.C. Police.
Police said he shot at them first on June 12, 2018, so officers returned fire.
Over the past year, community members have disputed that claim, sharing their own videos of what happened.
The conflicting reports have left Alston's mom with even more questions, desperate for answers.
“Marqueese has a daughter, and so I know that someday, she’s going to say, what happened to my dad?" said Kenithia. "And I want to be able to provide her with concrete, valid, factual information of what happened to her dad.”
Alston said her son had been trying to turn his life around.
He had just been released from prison in March after serving time through a special program that gives young adults a second chance.
"Marqueese Alston was my son," she said. "And he was a love beam."
Police said they captured what happened on their body cameras, but they haven't released that video to the public. Police also said they found a gun in a grassy area nearby and provided a photo of it last year.
WUSA9 reached out to MPD Friday to ask if they would be releasing the footage in the future and is still waiting to hear back.
"So from that day up unto this day, I’m still trying to find out what happened," she said.
Now, she's turning to community members to come forward and share what they saw.
"We are asking those individuals that were there," she said. "Can you please tell us? Can you please tell us what happened?"
Alston plans to canvass the community on Sept. 8, which would have been her son's 24th birthday.
That will be the first time she has visited the site since he was killed.
She and Marqueese's father are bracing themselves for a painful moment that they hope will yield answers.
"You’re here one minute, gone the next, let your kids know you love them, because I can’t," his dad, Tyrone Bryan, said.