Remembering Azad 

The departmental investigation comes months after Azad’s family attempted to gain coverage of his death through protests, vigils and social media posts, but it was ultimately his haunting autopsy photos that created enough noise to push for some of the police footage to be released and the investigation to occur. This was a decision that did not come lightly as they wanted Azad to be remembered for more than his mutilation.

“I met Khalil three and a half years ago,” Henderson recalled. “It was at one of our mutual friend’s parties. And honestly when I seen him, I just fell in love because his smile was so big. I wanted him when I first saw him.” 

“A month passed and our mutual friend brought us together and then we just kind of hit it off. Like, it just worked for us. … He was just a good person. He was everything to me, honestly. He was just a good person all over.” 

Milli also valued their friendship. “There were times where he didn’t even really have much, and he would offer me stuff, ” she said. “He was respectful. He was not a person that started things. Sometimes he would defuse if people had conflicts. He would never try to pick a side. He would try to be the mediator so he wouldn’t make the other person feel uncomfortable, or, you know what I mean? Like he was turning his back on you or something.”

“He was just a very good person. I don’t even know why this happened to him. This really just threw everybody off.”

“He was a very kindhearted person,” Lopez said. “Everybody that he cared about, anybody that came around him, he really cared for. He always just wanted to see anybody around him smile, like anybody, it [didn’t] matter if he just met you. He would really go above and beyond to, you know, make anyone around him happy.”

“Honestly, just being with him was always a good time. … He was always there for me.”