Authorities said Sunday night that a man whose fatal shooting earlier in the day was caught on video by a bystander had been killed in a struggle for an LAPD officer’s weapon.
The Los Angeles Times reported that officers responded to a robbery call about noon Sunday on skid row. LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said officers approached the man, who began “fighting and physically resisting the officers” when they made contact with him, according to the newspaper.
Smith said the officers attempted to use a Taser to take the man into custody but it was “ineffective,” according to the newspaper. The man and some of the officers then fell to the ground as the man continued to resist, Smith said. At some point what Smith called “a struggle over one of the officer’s weapons” occurred and three officers fired at the man.
Police have not identified the victim, who was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a nearby hospital, nor have they said how many shots were fired or how many officers were involved, according to the LA Times.
Witnesses gave the LA Times conflicting accounts of what prompted police to approach the victim, who they identified by his street name, “Africa.” One witness, Dennis Horne, told the newspaper that Africa was scuffling with another person in his tent when police arrived.
A video of the confrontation posted to Facebook by a bystander doesn’t show what interaction took place between the man and police before the confrontation got physical.
The video opens on a man fighting with what appear to be four police officers next to some tents on the sidewalk. A woman picks up a police baton that had been dropped and and is then wrestled to the ground as what appear to be two more officers run over to the scene. While two officers handcuff the woman, the sound of a Taser can be heard.
Someone then can be heard saying “Drop the gun” before several shots ring out. Bystanders scream out expletives once the firing stops.
“They just shot that man right here, man,” one bystander can be heard saying. “I’m gonna record all this shit.”
Dennis Horne, one of the witnesses, also took a video of the confrontation, according to NBC’s “Today.” NBC’s report did not appear to show any of Horne’s footage, however.
Watch video of the shooting below. WARNING: It is graphic, disturbing and contains foul language:
