Updated 11:25 p.m. March 1, 2015
A robbery suspect who allegedly tried to grab an officer’s gun was shot and killed by police during a struggle on Los Angeles’ skid row today, and the killing was captured on a amateur video that was viewed 3.2 million times in 10 hours.
Three officers, including a sergeant, fired their guns in a noon-hour struggle outside the Union Rescue Mission, in the center of a homeless community that has grown in population in recent years. The man was suspected of theft and battery and was seen violently resisting arrest just before gunshots rang out.
But witnesses screamed “he had no gun” as police struggled to control the chaotic scene.
LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith, a top aide to Chief Charlie Beck, told City News Service Sunday night that the suspect had grabbed an officer’s gun.
“The video is disturbing” and said he had viewed it four times. “It’s disturbing any time anyone loses their life. It’s a tragedy.”
As the video went viral, Los Angeles Police Commission chairman Steve Soboroff said on Twitter that “thorough investigations by (the) department and our independent Inspector General (are) proceeding simultaneously.”
The video was apparently posted on websites within hours of the death by a man named Anthony Blackburn. It was downloaded 1.7 million times in six hours, and 3.2 million times four hour later, according to Facebook’s counter.
The video, apparently shot on a phone, shows the man swinging wildly at four Los Angeles police officers who surrounded him on the sidewalk in front of the Union Rescue Mission, 545 S. San Pedro St. A police spokesman said officers had tried a Taser to subdue the robbery suspect.
“During that struggle, at least one less-than-lethal device, a Taser, was deployed,” said Sgt. Barry Montgomery of the media relations office. “However, at this time we do not know if that Taser struck the suspect,” he said.
The video does not show the Taser use, but a clicking sound typical of a stun gun can be heard.
The officers push the man to the sidewalk as four officers grab his flailing limbs and his torso.
Someone is heard yelling, “Drop the gun,” right before shots are heard.
First one shot, and then four others, are heard in quick succession. Police move back and attempt to calm the surrounding crowd, and people start yelling that the man did not have a gun and was dead, WITH at least one shouting insults at the officers.
The man died at the scene.
The shooting happened about noon on a street populated by people living in tents, cardboard or on the sidewalk. Officers had been sent to simultaneous robbery and battery calls, said Sgt. William Batista of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Media Relations Section.
One officer was slightly hurt and was taken to a hospital for treatment of an unspecified injury, he said.
A sergeant and two officers discharged their weapons, said Smith, the LAPD commander. All are from the department’s Central Station, he said.
At least one was part of the LAPD’s Safer Cities Initiative, whose officers wear body cameras, Smith said.
Video from surveillance cameras in the area, including one mounted on the Union Rescue Mission, were being sought, he said.
The LAPD’s Force Investigation Division was interviewing witnesses, gathering video and collecting and examining forensic evidence, Smith said.
The sergeant and officers involved were placed on paid leave. Each will receive psychological evaluations before Police Chief Beck determines, at a 72- hour briefing, if and when they are returned to duty, he said.
A “giant investigation” would take place over he next several days, Smith said, adding that he had no immediate information about the man’s mental health status or if he was homeless.
Civil rights leader Earl Ofari Hutchinson called for the police commission to hold a special hearing on police use of force on Skid Row.
“The killing of homeless man identified as ‘Africa’ underscores the need for the police commission to hold a special hearing to fully examine police tactics and training in the use of deadly force by LAPD officers involving Skid Row residents, many of whom have major mental challenges,” he said. “The special hearing would be an unprecedented effort by the commission to set a firm protocol and standard LAPD officers use to minimize the use of deadly force in encounters on Skid Row.”
— City News Service