ROCHESTER, N.Y. — ​The family of Tyshon Jones spoke out Sunday for the first time since the Gates man was fatally shot by Rochester police in front of the Open Door Mission last week.

Jones is seen in body camera footage not responding to verbal commands to drop a knife he was holding as he walked towards officers.

It's an image that family members are trying to reconcile with the man they knew.

"I am not OK, I want my son to come walk through my door again," said Kennet Short, mother of Tyshon.

It's been a trying week for Short, who lost her son.

Despite how his life ended, Short wanted everyone to know that Jones lived his life for God, he was self-driven, and an honor roll student.

She also had a message for the officer that killed him. 

"I just want him to know that not only was my son's life was taken from me, my life has been taken from me. I am dead inside. I'm emotionally dead inside because all the traumatic events that have happened over the past few months. I ask, I ask those who are in question, how do I go on? How does my family go on?" Short said. 

Other family members also shared their feelings.

"If he could help somebody along the way, he believed his living would not be in vain," said Phyllis Lowry, grandmother of Tyshon.

"We loved him. He was a caring person and he was victim," said Andre Jones, brother of Tyshon.

"He's gone now. We just want to bury him, but you're going to see our faces again. You better believe that," added Purnell Jones, father of Tyshon.

Reverend Myra Brown of Spiritus Christi Church says Jones' death is another example why there needs to be change within in the Rochester Police Department.

She explains that the RPD should have 50% of officers deployed to mental health calls involving Black and brown people to also be Black, those Black officers should also be put in charge of those calls, and for the officers to be equipped to de-escalate.

"We pay $97 million in this policing budget, at the very least our children should be able to come home," said Rev. Brown.

As for Short, she is committed to changing the system that she says failed her son.

"I must stand for him. He is not the person that he is being portrayed to be. That is not him," said Short.

Spectrum News has reached out to the police department, the police union, and the city for a response to the family's statements.

The officer involved is on administrative duty pending an internal investigation.