The man shot by Los Angeles Police Department officers in a Los Feliz neighborhood had approached officers “in an aggressive manner,” the LAPD has reported.
Officers believed the man had a gun when he approached them about 6:30 p.m. Friday, but no firearm was recovered, according to an LAPD statement.
“Two uniformed police officers assigned to Security Services Division were stopped in traffic in their marked black and white police vehicle on Los Feliz Boulevard near Tica Drive,” the statement continued.
“The officers observed a male on the sidewalk walking towards them in an aggressive manner, point at them with his hands wrapped in a gray cloth.”
The officers “exited their vehicle and believing that the male had a gun they ordered him to drop the gun,” police said. “The male refused to comply with the officers’ commands at which time an officer-involved shooting occurred.”
The Los Angeles Times on Monday identified the man as 48-year-old Walter William DeLeon.
The Times quoted DeLeon’s family as saying he was a father of two who worked in construction and often walked with a rag to wipe away perspiration.
DeLeon’s 18 year-old son, also named William, told The Times he had been shocked to learn his father had been shot by police.
“At first, I thought it was like a random person that did it,” William DeLeon said. “Then I found out it was the cops. I didn’t understand why, because I know my dad wouldn’t do anything to provoke it.”
The shooting is being probed by the department’s Force Investigation Division. When the investigation is completed, the results will be reviewed by police Chief Charlie Beck, the Office of the Inspector General and the Board of Police Commissioners.
Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to call the Force Investigation Division at (213) 486-5230.
— City News Service