Attorneys for the mother of a 14-year-old boy who was fatally shot by a Los Angeles police officer in Boyle Heights called for the release of video from police body cameras, saying there are conflicting accounts of what led up to the shooting.
“What do we know? We know the officers were wearing body cameras,” attorney Jorge Gonzalez said Friday at a news conference at the shooting scene. “So we want to see the videotaped images from the body cameras. We want to see what it was that the officers saw at the time that they were shooting their gun at this young man.”
As a policy, the LAPD generally does not publicly release body camera footage. LAPD Deputy Chief Robert Arcos said earlier this week that the footage was being examined as part of the department’s investigation into the shooting.
Jesse James Romero was killed around 5:50 p.m. Tuesday near Breed Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue.
According to Arcos, officers had gone to the neighborhood on a report of vandalism involving “gang writing,” and that the suspects were described as being about 14-16 years of age.
Arcos said officers spotted two suspects, and one fled on foot.
“According to a witness, who saw the subject running from the officers, the witness saw the subject shoot a handgun in the direction of the pursuing officers,” Arcos said.
Jesse James Romero, 14, died after being shot by Los Angeles police on Tuesday https://t.co/atMaf802zH pic.twitter.com/JWrLa9jHLg
— Univision News (@UnivisionNews) August 11, 2016
He said the pursuing officers heard a gunshot as they approached a corner during the pursuit.
“As the officers rounded the corner, one of the officers became involved in an officer-involved shooting,” he said.
Arcos said a weapon was recovered at the scene.
Gonzalez and fellow attorney Antonio Rodriguez said there is another witness who claims Romero did not fire at officers, but tossed the gun over a fence, possibly causing it to fire. They said a photo from the shooting scene, taken by a witness, shows Romero’s body on the ground and an object believed to be the gun being examined by police officers on the other side of a fence gate.
In response to the shooting, a group of community groups issued a call for the city to invest more money in anti-gang programs from area youth, claiming there are about 800,000 residents aged 10-24 and not enough programs to help keep them off the streets.
“There is no need to invest a lot in LAPD,” said Araceli Rodriguez of the nonprofit Legacy LA. “Why upgrade police cars? Why make the police station look all pretty? There is no point to that.”
— City News Service