CW: This article discusses topics of police violence, including instances of police shooting and brutality.

Student organization Students for Revolution is advocating for police accountability and raising awareness for victims of police violence — particularly for Alex Gonzales Jr. and Rajan Moonesinghe.

The organization began putting up posters on and around campus to bring attention to police violence in Austin. With help from Gonzales’ family, the organization will lead a protest Sunday, demanding justice for the two men.

“People know about them, but not enough for the violence that has been committed,” said Amalya, a steering member of Students for Revolution. “We just wanted to put their faces out there and let their names be known.”

According to the lawsuit filed by Gonzales’ family, Gonzales was involved in an incident with off-duty APD officer Gabriel Gutierrez in January 2021. Gutierrez fired his personal firearm at Gonzales’ vehicle, while Gonzales’ girlfriend, Jessica Arellano, and their infant son were in the car, the lawsuit stated.

Gutierrez later claimed Gonzales pointed a gun at his face while “driving erratically” in South Austin, according to the Office of Police Oversight.

Gutierrez and responding officer Luis Serrato discharged their weapons multiple times at the scene, and Gonzalez was hit and fatally injured, the Office of Police Oversight’s disciplinary recommendation for the case stated. The report from the office states Arellano was also hit during the encounter but survived, and the infant sustained no injuries.

According to the disciplinary recommendation, neither officer was criminally charged, despite the office recommending indefinite suspension for Gutierrez and counseling for Serrato.

Gonzales’ family declined to comment.

According to a report from APD and the Office of Police Oversight, shortly after Rajan Moonesinghe arrived home from a business trip in November 2022, he was shot and killed on his front porch by APD Officer Daniel Sanchez. Moonesinghe was holding his legally-owned rifle after suspecting an intruder to be in his house.

Sanchez did not give Moonesinghe time to drop the weapon, his family told NBC News. Sanchez has been on administrative leave since the shooting and the department is still conducting internal investigations.

APD did not respond to requests for comment.

Studio art student Amalya said the organization’s cop watch program is an initiative meant to be a direct force against the police and hold them responsible for the violence they commit.

“We can’t treat it like an isolated incident,” said Amani, a sociology freshman and the organization’s head of communications and outreach. “This is a pattern of violence.”

Amani and Amalya, who did not want their last names disclosed for safety reasons, said the funding of the Austin Police Department needs to be invested back into Austin’s communities.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous how much we’re investing into them,” Amani said. “And how much that money could have been used to make people’s lives materially better.”

In 2020, Austin City Council cut funding for APD, yet, revested for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, totaling $442 million — a record high budget for the department.

For now, Amani and Amalya said they have hopes for the Students for Revolution protest at the capitol Sunday afternoon.

“We can’t let the momentum die down,” Amani said. “That’s why we’re never going to stop fighting for Alex and why we’re never going to stop fighting for Rajan.”