The Los Angeles police shot and killed a homeless man during a confrontation and a video of the killing has surfaced online. The news was first reported by the Los Angeles Time on their website.
The video was posted on Facebook by an eye witness and it shows several officers from the Los Angeles Police Department fighting with a man in a downtown area known as skid row where homeless people pitch tents at night. When the homeless man falls down on the ground he continues to struggle with the police officers. Then, several shots are fired by the police.
Civilian death at the hands of police have been getting more and more numerous in the past year. The most notable of the shootings happened in Ferguson, Missouri, when a police officer shot an unarmed teen, Michael Brown. The young boy died, which caused weeks of protests and rioting. The police officer who shot the young man was cleared of any wrongdoing by a grand jury.
It was announced by Sgt. Barry Montgomery, police spokesperson, that the homeless man who was shot by the Los Angeles Police officers was declared dead at the hospital, shorty after being shot. The Los Angeles Police Department have not yet given any statements and the homeless man hasn’t been identified yet.
There are two versions of this story, given by eye witnesses. Some are saying that the man had grabbed one of the officer’s gun and one eye witness even heard an officer saying that the homeless man has his gun. Others are saying the police officer used a taser gun on the man before shooting him dead.
Steve Soboroff, Police commission President, watched the video and declared that the critical matter in this particular shooting was whether or not the homeless man tried to take the officer’s gun. He stated:
My heart just started pounding just watching. These situations are just so horrific. To me, that would be the only explanation that something would happen that quickly.
Soboroff said that the District Attorney’s office, the Los Angeles Police Department and its independent inspector general would investigate the shooting very carefully. It was revealed that the LAPD officers were called in the area to investigate a robbery.
Image Source: NY Daily News