SACRAMENTO, Calif._Following four nights of boisterous protests over the shooting of Stephon Clark, Saturday evening arrived quietly in Sacramento.
As a 7 p.m. vigil for Clark began, about 70 people stood near a service for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.
Two attendees held up a large white sign reading, "It's a phone, not a gun!" Cars zooming by honked in support.
Clark, 22, was shot the night of March 18 after being chased into his grandmother's backyard by two officers responding to reports of a man breaking car windows. Police said the officers thought Clark had a gun. After the shooting, they determined he was holding a cellphone.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg issued a statement earlier Saturday calling for peaceful action: "From the bottom of my heart, I urge our entire community to continue to work together through nonviolent civil action as we pursue justice and demand reform."
The event followed nearly a week of protests _ largely nonviolent, though at times confrontational _ in downtown Sacramento. Up to 300 protesters marched Friday night until nearly 1 a.m., after Clark's family released a private autopsy showing that he was shot eight times, including six times in the back, by Sacramento police.
The protesters did not return Saturday evening, as fans descended on the Golden 1 Center for a Sacramento Kings game against the Golden State Warriors.
Protesters caused an arena lockdown at two recent games, preventing thousands of fans from entering. But the team and police instituted higher security measures Thursday night that allowed fans to enter without disruption, and they continued Saturday with the presence of an estimated 170 police officers in riot gear.
Roger Resek, a Kings fan from West Sacramento, said he felt "confident and comfortable" attending Saturday's game after learning the added security features put in place during Thursday night's game would also be in place that night.
Resek arrived to the game several hours earlier than usual as an added precaution, however, he said. He was one of the thousands of fans who was turned away during the team's March 22 game against the Atlanta Hawks. That night he arrived to the Golden 1 Center arena just before tip-off, as he usually does, only to see fans headed the opposite direction.
"It was inconvenient for the patrons but I understand the concept," he said of the protests.
Earlier Saturday, several hundred gathered for a rally across from City Hall, where former Kings player Matt Barnes announced a college scholarship fund for Clark's two sons. Barnes said it is the beginning of an effort to address the violent death of young black men that he would like to expand across the country.
"This is a nationwide problem," he said. "Once we get it up we are to going carry it nationwide, to provide kids who have lost their father to unfortunate stuff like this a chance to still come up and be productive men."
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