A Phoenix police officer shot and killed an unarmed black man on Tuesday because he mistook the late man's pill bottle for a gun.

According to ABC News, 34-year-old Rumain Brisbon was killed in a scuffle with a white police officer who approached him for being a drug suspect.

The officer said he feared for his life when he struggled with Brisbon, but others say he went too far as demonstrators protested for justice Thursday. Nearly 150 people marched through the streets of downtown Phoenix to police headquarters to speak about the nation's epidemic of police brutality, Yahoo reports.

"This had nothing to do with race," Nora Brisbon told The Arizona Republic when talking about the death of her son. "This is about Rumain and the wrong that was done to him, and I want people to focus on that. If they want to rally, let's support him positively."

Rumain's mother and his girlfriend Dana Klinger (who is white) criticized the media and police for highlighting his police records that dated back to 2009 for aggravated DUI, burglary and marijuana.

Klinger said people should instead focus on who Brisbon was as a father to his four daughters, including their 18-month-old baby girl together.

"He took really good care of me. He checked on me every day. I don't know what I'm going to tell my daughter when it's time to tell her," Klinger said.

"Of course he did a few bad things here and there, but they've been taken care of," Nora said. "He was not just some raggedy thug out there on the street. He made a difference in everybody's life that he touched."

Rumain's family said he was delivering food to his children the night he was killed, according to NBC News.

Protesters demanded Thursday night that the Phoenix police identify the officer who fatally shot Rumain.

Many critics compared this shooting to the deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York.

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