The family of an unarmed 19-year-old man killed by Long Beach police Thursday is calling for the U.S. Justice Department to conduct a criminal investigation into the shooting.

The shooting will be reviewed by the department in a process that could take several months, according to Deputy Chief David Hendricks in an interview Friday evening. In addition, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the Coroner’s Office will conduct independent investigations.

“Our condolences go out to the Morejon family,” Hendricks said in a statement Saturday night. “We understand they are grieving over a lost family member. It is an unfortunate occurrence for all those involved anytime an officer fires their weapon.”

Hendricks reiterated in his statement that an independent investigation is being conducted by the district attorney’s office.

The family’s statement, released through their attorney, R. Samuel Paz, calls for the department to release the name and badge number of the officer who shot Hector Morejon and also requests that the department suspend that officer.

The statement also describes the incident from the point of view of Lucia Morejon, Hector’s mother, who was at home at the time of the shooting. She lives just a few doors away from the scene.

Lucia Morejon heard a noise that turned out to be the gunshot that injured her son. After a few minutes, she heard more noise in the alley behind her home, went outside to investigate and saw many police officers.

She then saw her son in an ambulance.

“When he saw her, he propped himself partially up and cried to her, ‘Mommy, Mommy, please come, please come!’ ” the attorney’s statement said. “She walked towards the ambulance, identified herself as his mother, expecting to ride with him to the hospital, but was pushed back by a man in a blue uniform.”

Lucia Morejon asked what happened but was not given any information, according to the statement.

“At the hospital, Mrs. Mojeron and her family were not allowed to see Hector until he was dead.”

In addition to her account of the events, Lucia Morejon said in the statement that any suggestion that her son was a gang member is false.

The suggestion of gang affiliation “reflects the police department’s immediate tactic to attempt to make the victim of a police killing (here Hector) appear like a bad person,” the statement reads. “Hector was a sweet son and favored little brother.”

Morejon was shot to death by an officer responding to a trespassing and vandalizing call at about 2:45 p.m. Thursday. The officer discovered two open windows missing screens at a multi-unit residence in the 1100 block of Hoffman Avenue in Long Beach.

An officer looked through a broken window and saw a male suspect, later identified as Morejon, standing next to a wall, according to an LBPD press release. The officer saw the Long Beach man turn toward him, while bending his knees and extending his arm out, as if pointing an object that the officer perceived as a gun. The officer then fired, according to police.

At the time of the shooting, two officers were at the scene, LBPD’s Hendricks said Friday. The officer who fired was not able to give a verbal warning before shooting, Hendricks said.

“That’s something we try and do in every situation,” he said. “However there are those times where the exigency of the situation prevents us from doing that.”

Morejon was initially listed in critical condition, but was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Officers also arrested four Long Beach residents following the shooting: Edgar and German Rodarte, ages 20 and 21, respectively, and Yesenia Pineda, 22, and Ceclia Cox, 22. All were arrested on suspicion of trespassing. German Rodarte was also charged with violating a gang injunction.

Police added that the interior of the home where the shooting occurred was covered in gang-related graffiti.

So far this year, officers have fired at suspects three times, with this being the first fatal incident, officials said. In 2013, the department was criticized when it had more than double the officer-involved shootings over the previous year. Of the 15 shootings in 2013, six were fatal.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact the Long Beach Police Homicide Detail at 562-570-7244. Anonymous tips may be submitted by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), texting TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637), or visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.

Contact Greg Yee at 562-499-1476.