Many questions remained after about 300 members of the community met at Southside Community Center on Tuesday night to discuss the death of Shawn Greenwood.

The community members voiced their concerns about Greenwood’s death, which occurred around 5 p.m. Feb. 23 outside of Pete’s Grocery and Deli on West Buffalo Street.

Greenwood was fatally shot by Ithaca Police Department Sgt. Bryan Bangs after Greenwood accelerated his car toward an officer.

As previously reported in an Ithacan article, officers were attempting to serve Greenwood with a search warrant while Greenwood was sitting in his car.

The gathering, which was moderated by Kirby Edmonds and Laura Branca of TFC Associates, was intended to be an evening for community reflection, Branca said.

Mayor Carolyn Peterson, District Attorney Gwen Wilkinson and Police Chief Ed Vallely were present to field community members’ questions about Greenwood’s death.

Wilkinson was originally in charge of investigating Greenwood’s death but stepped aside March 8. Chemung County District Attorney Weeden A. Wetmore is now special prosecutor of the investigation.

Ricardo Williams, a lifelong friend of Greenwood’s, spoke to the packed auditorium first. Greenwood was one of the funniest and most energetic people he had ever met, Williams said. Though the two grew apart as they got older, Williams spent a lot of time with Greenwood in the months before his death and said that he had noticed a change in him.

“He seemed … more concerned about the important things in life, like family and friends,” Williams said. “He showed a true love for life and seemed he was an all-around more positive person.”

Peterson said that she is “keenly aware” of the stress that the incident has put on the community. She is urging the most transparent release of information regarding the incident.

“The community deserves this,” she said. “This is not a press conference. This is your meeting.”

Many locals expressed concern about how Greenwood’s family was treated at the hospital where he was taken after being shot, while others suggested that Bangs and Greenwood had a prior history and questioned why Bangs was working on a case involving Greenwood.

Vallely said he could not acknowledge any previous relationship between Bangs and Greenwood at this time.

“That’s a question that we’ll have to get taken down and relayed to the people who know best about the investigation being put together,” Wilkinson said.

Many community members who stepped up to the microphone asked when they could expect answers about the investigation.

“I don’t want to throw out a number because if somebody hears [it], they will attach significance to that number,” Vallely said.

Peterson said she has been asking when the community will know the details of the crime but has not received an answer yet.

Members of the audience grew agitated after it became apparent that many of their questions would go unanswered for now, groaning and shouting each time a question was not answered.

The location and timing of the shooting was also a concern of many who spoke at the meeting. Pete’s Grocery is close to a school, and schoolchildren who stayed after school to work on projects or attend homework clubs could have easily been around the store at the time of the shooting, said Ana Goldsmith, a teacher at Lehman Alternative Community School.

Greenwood’s girlfriend, Cassie Landes, who is pregnant with Greenwood’s child, asked why the warrant was not served to Greenwood at home.

“And why four shots?” Landes said. “Why not shoot out the tires? Why not shoot his arm, his leg? It caused him to lose his life and not see his unborn child.”

Wilkinson responded that the investigation will reveal when the shots were fired and whether one was fired before Greenwood’s car crashed into a tree.

“Wait until the facts come out about that because I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone knows,” she said.

Michelle Berry, a former city alderwoman, said people were disappointed by the lack of answers but she hopes that there will be more community outreach and advocacy to continue planning out the next steps. The event did succeed in the sense that many frustrations were laid out, she said.

“It’s very important to hear [the frustrations],” Berry said. “It’s a very rare situation where many people of color can express their rage to a district attorney and to the head of the police department. So it’s good that they see the disparity between some people who are very content in this community and some people who have been outraged for a long time.”

Branca said the event went as she expected.

“Many people are grieving,” she said. “Many people are angry. People are distraught, and they need some answers, and we knew that they wouldn’t get the answers they were seeking tonight.”