The gunshots startled Mercedes Caballero and her 16-year-old daughter.

They got out of bed and checked the video feed from their home security system. It showed a man lying on the ground as police officers rushed around the front yard across the street on Ryan Drive in Decatur.

“Mom, the cops shot him,” Caballero recalled her daughter saying.

They rolled back the video and watched in shock.

“Oh my goodness,” Caballero recalled saying. “The cop did shoot him.”

In an interview with AL.com, Caballero recalled learning that their neighbor of about five years, 39-year-old Stephen Clay Perkins died that morning after a Decatur police officer shot and killed him just feet away from their home.

Another neighbor, Justin Shepherd, said the police gunfire hit his home as he laid in bed.

“I was watching from inside the house right after I heard the gunshots because bullets were coming in my home,” he told AL.com.

The Army veteran said he survived the war in Iraq but feared for his life in his own home last Friday. He said he felt helpless when he realized that police had killed his friend and personal trainer.

“I guess I was far enough in the house,” he said. “But it was just sheer luck. Cause if I was sleeping in one of the front rooms or watching TV, I could have been dead.”

Perkins’ death sparked protests outside Decatur City Hall, with marchers calling for police to release body camera footage. The city won’t release the tapes, but Perkins’ family did share footage from the neighbor’s security camera.

The mayor met with Perkins’ family but said he doesn’t yet have the answers they are looking for about what happened to their husband, brother, father, son, known to some as Clay and to others as Steve. The state police continue to investigate. The family hired Lee Merrit, a national civil rights attorney “to ensure their pursuit of justice is thorough, transparent and effective.” Merritt said they would meet today with Scott Anderson, the district attorney of Morgan County.

Police said Perkins threatened a tow truck driver attempting to repossess his vehicle. The tow truck driver left the house but returned later with officers. In a press release, police said Perkins turned a gun toward the officer, “causing the officer to fire.”

In a statement posted on Instagram Wednesday night, the family’s lawyer said the police and the tow company got it wrong.

Merritt said on Instagram that Perkins went outside to investigate why the dog was barking. He said Perkins didn’t know the police were outside with the tow truck driver.

“In a matter of seconds the men hidden in the dark surrounding his property revealed themselves and simultaneously opened fire,” the statement added. “He never had a chance to surrender. Officers didn’t announce their presence until the very last moment. Steve was committing no crime. Officers surrounding Steven in his front yard fired over a dozen rounds striking him seven times— killing him. They later discovered the attempted repossession was a mistake.”

A spokesperson for the city and the police department did not comment on Thursday, citing the ongoing investigation.

Perkins’ family, in a statement released on the day of his death, said they had receipts and that there’s no evidence he fell behind on his vehicle payments.

“The unjust excessive amount of force can be seen in the home surveillance footage,” said the statement, released by Brenton Lipscomb, the family’s publicist. “Rumors have circulated regarding Decatur Police Department’s statement stigmatizing Clay as combative or aggressive, causing rage in marginalized communities across Alabama.

“This was not the character of Clay Perkins,” the statement added. “Clay was a family-oriented young black man thriving for excellence.”

Footage from the security cameras is dark and grainy, filmed from too far away to clearly depict exactly what happened.

One clip released by the family captured audio of the shooting. Perkins went outside and shouted for the tow man to “put the truck down.” It shows a police officer running and shouting “Hey, hey, police, get on the ground” and immediately firing multiple rounds. Someone is heard saying, “that’s the gun” after the officers rush over to Perkins lying on the ground.

The family said seven bullets hit Perkins.

Another video, which does not have audio, appeared to show Perkins shining a bright light in the front yard. Perkins appeared to move forward a few steps before turning to the right, leaping backward and falling to the ground. The video then appeared to show an officer emerge from Perkins’ right side, near the home.

In a news release, the Alabama Law Enforcement said Perkins was “found to be armed with a handgun which was also equipped with a light.”

But the video raised questions for Perkins’ friends, family and neighbors.

On his home security camera, neighbor Michael Capps saw an interaction with the tow driver around 12:20 a.m. Then, he saw police show up with the tow truck more than an hour later.

He questioned why the tow truck returned with police if Perkins had been threatening earlier.

“I think it all could have been avoided,” Capps told AL.com. “One. I don’t think there was any reason for the tow truck driver to come back at two o’clock in the morning when he’d already tried once and was sent on his way.”

Capps shared the video footage on Facebook.

Rodney Gordon, the president of the Morgan County chapter of the NAACP, characterized the shooting as an “ambush” and “modern day lynching.” He questioned why police appeared to be hiding in the dark near Perkins’ home.

“Because Steve would have never come outside with a gun or even had a gun,” Gordon told AL.com. “If he came to Steve, after he came to Steve’s house, knocked on the door. ‘How are you doing? I’m such and such a Decatur Police Department,’ we won’t even be having this conversation. Period.”

Briona Watkins, a nurse who grew up with Perkins in Hillsboro, a town of about 400 people 14 miles west of Decatur, said protests will continue “until we get answers.”

She is one of the organizers of a facebook group named THE MOVEMENT-JUSTICE FOR CLAY STEVE PERKINS. More than 2,000 people have joined since Sunday.

“The police did not make their presence known,” Watkins said. “They hid on the side of his house. They hid across the street at a neighbor’s house. They did not make their presence known whatsoever. And how was he supposed to know that they were there if they didn’t make their presence known?”

“They could just have simply knocked on the door and let him know, ‘just letting you know, we got a call. They’re trying to tow your truck for whatever reason. Just letting you know that we’re here and we got called to assist.’ If that would have been done, then we wouldn’t even be on the phone right now.”

Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling said he will join the community at a vigil, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. today outside city hall, in memory of Perkins. In a video posted to Facebook, the mayor asked the community to pray and revealed that he and his wife, Sherry, met with Perkins’ family over the weekend.

“My heart is with Steve’s family and loved ones as they grieve the loss of his life,” the mayor said in the video.

But he acknowledged that he could not provide the family with answers about the shooting.

“While the grief in the home was beyond belief, there was certainly hospitality and kindness,” he said. “But the family, understandably, was laser-focused on one thing, and that’s answers to why Steve lost his life. And at this time, I do not have the answers.”

The city denied a public records request from AL.com seeking the footage as well as the officer’s personnel and disciplinary records. The officer’s name has not been made public. Police said the officer was on administrative leave.

Alexia Owens is a medical assistant now, but she grew up with Perkins in Hillsboro.

“We kept trying to figure out, like, ain’t no way, ain’t no way that he would do something to provoke an officer, not knowingly,” she told AL.com at a protest. “So we knew that Steve is happy, respectful, he’s not confrontational. He’s just an all-around good spirit, good personality, uplifting. He loves life. He ain’t going to do nothing to take that life from him or from his daughters. You know what I’m saying? Take food off his table. His family’s got to worry about that now.”

Terrance Baker, another Hillsboro native, told AL.com that he questions whether Perkins could have known the police were outside in the dark.

“Steve was the one that never got caught up in the riff-raff,” he told AL.com

Businessman Tommy Cook said he felt compelled to protest and speak out after Perkins’ death.

“You know as a concerned citizen, it doesn’t matter if you’re white, Black, Mexican, Puerto Rican, whatever, at 2 a.m. in the morning, your dogs are barking, you’re going to come outside with concern, right? If you have a weapon, you’re going to come outside with your weapon. That’s anyone.”