DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — Sunday marked one month since the shooting death of Stephen Perkins. Perkins was shot outside his home in the early morning hours of September 29th.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency recently denied Perkins’ family attorney’s request for the body cam footage, showing how he was killed…but that hasn’t stopped the family’s push for transparency.

During Monday’s Decatur City Council work session, those calling for justice in the shooting death of Stephen Perkins quickly pointed out Mayor Tab Bowling’s absence. In his absence, community members and pastors from a wide array of delegations called for his resignation.

“When things get tough, as a pastor, I got to take the heat, regardless of if I like it or not,” Union Grove Primitive Baptist Church Pastor Patrick Tucker said. “By him not being here, it shows that he’s not able to take the heat. In other words, I call for your resignation immediately.”

Several community members spoke before the city council, calling on them to do the right thing and hold city leaders accountable.

Councilman Billy Jackson, towards the end of the meeting, called for healing.

“I hope that we can begin to heal. I hope that we can get to an end of this process where we give due process and move down the road. I do think the only way for us to be in that process is by removal of the officers, all of the officers involved, and our police chief,” Jackson said.

When it comes to moving forward, Steve’s brother Nicholas Perkins says every day looks different for his family.

“With each second, we just pray and stand on our faith in God to help us through and we rely on the memories we had. From time to time that’s hard, but Steve did a lot of good in this world and that’s what we go on,” Perkins said. “I’ll tell you what…as tragic as this was…they killed the right person and the wrong person. They weren’t expecting the whole city to be behind him or our family…and for that, our family says thank you.”

News 19’s Lynsey Smith spoke with Mayor Bowling over the phone Monday night. 

Bowling says because he doesn’t have a vote, it’s not mandatory for him to attend city council meetings or work sessions. He also explained that he wasn’t in attendance Monday evening because it was a short agenda and there were no items on the agenda that pertained to him.