The family of Carlos Lopez, who says he was killed by the NYPD in 2003, say they believe to have new findings that will bring them one step closer to receiving justice years after his death. 

Friday marks what would have been Lopez’s 38th birthday. While the family celebrated his life, they also announced a new discovery of a sweatshirt that they have obtained from an evidence barrel just weeks ago. 

This is something they say they have been on the hunt for, for years. However, they say the sweatshirt they received back didn’t have any gunshot holes--which paints a different story.

“It was said that someone was fleeing the scene with a black hoodie on, so I think what probably happened here is that police shot the wrong person and had multiple people saying that there was a man leaving the scene with a black hoodie. We don’t have a man that was just shot with a black hoodie and what I think they did… they found a black hoodie. It’s very strange there are no bullet holes,” said Sean Hayes, the lawyer representing the family. 

They say along with that black hoodie, they also found ripped up and tattered clothing. On May 1, 2003, the then 19-year-old Carlos Lopez was killed by gunfire while walking the streets of Bed Stuy. 

The family blames police and says the officers were called to the scene of a shooting and mistook Lopez as the gunman--shooting him to death. 

Years later, they continue to celebrate his life and lawyers representing the family say they had a federal civil trial against the NYPD that resulted in their loss. 

However, now with the new sweater in their possession, they are demanding answers. 

“What we want is an investigation and a full one. Everyone jumped to the belief that Carlos was the perpetrator of the crime. And there’s so much evidence that he’s not the perpetrator but everyone jumped to that,” said Hayes. 

News 12 reached out to the Attorney General’s office in response to the call for an investigation and has not heard back yet.