The news that former Aurora paramedic Peter Cichuniec pardoned his prison sentence was met with mixed reactions, both in Colorado and beyond. Cichuniec, one of the paramedics involved in the 2019 death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain in Colorado, was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison in March, but had his sentence reduced Friday to the probationary period.

Thomas Mayes, the NAACP vice president for Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, says his community had no idea Cichuniec was even trying to his sentence to leave.

So when he heard late Friday afternoon that one of the men had been found guilty of contributing to the death of McClain would soon be released from prison, he felt a wave of emotions.

“Anger and sadness, a mixture of what I felt personally and for my community, I was completely devastated,” Mayes said.

He says McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, is even more sad.

“I know she’s not healed, and this is kind of taking the scab off the wound. It was healing,” Mayes said.

A jury found Cichuniec guilty of second-degree murder last year. In a motion to reduce his sentence, his attorneys wrote that Cichuniec is “an individual of good character, an individual with no violent history and no criminal past” and “poses no continuing danger to the public.”

Mayes says it’s unfair to grant Cichuniec his freedom on that basis, because Elijah McClain was all of those things and more.

“He was a good citizen. He was a member of our community, a good member of our community. He kept giving back. He even embraced animals. I mean, everything that you can call good in a person,” Mayes said. “How many chances did Elijah get? He begged for his life. So when I look at that, his character means absolutely nothing to me.”

Cichuniec’s lawyers further argued that he was only convicted of complicity and that his co-defendants, who played a larger role in McClain’s death, receive much more lenient sentences.

Cichuniec now faces a four-year suspended prison sentence.

CBS News Colorado has attempted to contact the Cichuniec family but has not heard back. In a statement, Edward A. Kelly, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said, “While nothing can undo the tragic events of Mr. McClain’s death, the IAFF is relieved that the court has recognized the need for fairness and justice in this case.”

Mayes says this rekindles his community’s desire for justice. Mayes says the NAACP says they will not stop working peacefully until they get justice for Elijah.

“I believe in my heart that it is injustice,” he said. “And injustice is really the birthplace of unrest. And unrest produces protests and unfortunately, sometimes protests turn into violence. And that is what we have tried to prevent.”