A suspect who was killed by Los Angeles police in Van Nuys last weekend had not only thrown a beer bottle through the rear window of a patrol car, leading the officers inside to believe they were being shot at, but also pointed his hand at them while holding a dark object after they got out of the cruiser, police said Thursday.
The shooting took place at 11:30 p.m. Saturday at Victory and Sepulveda boulevards.
Police Chief Charlie Beck said earlier that two officers were inside the patrol car stopped at a red light.
They were about to make a turn onto Victory Boulevard from Sepulveda, according to the LAPD.
“They were approached from the rear by an individual who threw a, what we believe to be a 40-ounce beer bottle through the rear view window of the police vehicle with such force that the officers believed they were being fired upon,” Beck said. “They alighted from the vehicle and an officer-involved shooting occurred.”
Once outside the vehicle, the officers saw the man point his hand at them, above waist level, while “holding an unknown dark object,” according to an LAPD statement.
“Taken together with the other circumstances the officers believed this individual posed an imminent threat to them,” according to the LAPD.
The dead man, whose name has not been released pending next of kin notifications, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the coroner’s office, which reported he was a Van Nuys resident in his 40s.
Beck said the shooting remains under investigation, and the officers have been taken out of the field.
“Of course we’ll look into this,” Beck said. “The priorities we’ll look at here is, ‘Were the officers’ perceptions reasonable? Not were they correct, but were they reasonable? And so that is the hurdle that will occur with this shooting.”
The officers were not injured.
It’s unclear what the man was holding, but police have not reported recovering any weapon other than the broken glass bottle found in the back seat of the patrol vehicle.
— City News Service