[symple_googlemap title=”48th Street and Ascot Avenue” location=”48th Street and Ascot Avenue” height=”300″ zoom=”15″]
A man who was killed in an officer-involved shooting in South Los Angeles on Sunday was armed with a replica handgun with its orange tip covered so it could not be distinguished from a real firearm, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said Monday.
The shooting occurred after gang officers went to 48th Street and Ascot Avenue late Sunday afternoon after someone called in a report of a man with a gun, possibly a Beretta, Beck said.
About 5 p.m., the two officers spotted a man matching the description of the gunman, Beck said.
“As the officers approached the male to initiate a pedestrian stop, the male turned and pointed a handgun at the officers, at which time there was an officer-involved shooting,” Beck said at news conference Monday at Los Angeles Police Department headquarters.
Paramedics took the unidentified man to a hospital, where he died.
Officers recovered the weapon that the man had in his possession, which turned out to be a replica, Beck said. He displayed a photo of the replica gun, which “had the orange tip colored by black paint or a black felt pen, in order to conceal the fact that it is a replica,” the chief said.
Beck said the officers were wearing body-worn video cameras, and he viewed the video Monday morning.
“It clearly supports the officers’ prior statements and versions of this incident, and it clearly refutes any reports that this individual … was shot while he was laying on the ground,” Beck said. “That did not happen.”
Anyone knowing the fatally wounded man’s identity, or who has any other information on the case, was urged to call police at (877) LAPD-247.
–City News Service