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2 body cameras involved
An enhanced version of a video recording of Los Angeles police officers fatally shooting a homeless man on skid row Sunday appears to show the man's hand reaching in the direction of one officer's waistband.
A Times' review of the video shows the officer quickly pulling away at that moment. Then, three of his colleagues open fire on the man.
It was difficult to determine whether the man's hand actually touched the officer's weapon.
The Times reviewed a second video shot from a security camera at the nearby Union Rescue Mission. It also shows the incident, but at a slightly greater distance than the first video, which was posted on Facebook but has since been taken down.
The rescue mission video offers more insight into what happened before police arrived. The video shows the man killed by police flipping another homeless man’s orange tent off the curb with the occupant inside. Paramedics arrive a short time later to treat the man in the tent, the video shows. The police arrive soon after that.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said at a press conference on Monday that there was evidence of a struggle over the officer's gun. He said the slide on the weapon had been "partially engaged" and that "this is indicative of a struggle over a weapon."
The officers involved had received training in how to deal with the mentally ill.
"This is an extreme tragedy," Beck said.
LAPD Sgt. Barry Montgomery noted that there were at least two surveillance cameras mounted on buildings at the scene.
The encounter was recorded by body cameras worn by at least one of the officers involved. It was unclear what that recording shows.
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"It's clear there was a struggle for the officer's gun," Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. Andrew Smith said. No other gun was found at the scene.
Five shots can be heard on the first video. Two officers and a sergeant fired their weapons, Smith said.
The man, whose identity had not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics. Police said two officers were treated for minor injuries and released.
The homeless man went by the moniker "Africa."
Andy Bales, president of the Union Rescue Mission, said he believes the man got his nickname because he said he was an immigrant from an African nation and whose family had tried to get him to return.
He said the homeless man was involved in an altercation about half an hour before the shooting, leading to a call to police.
LAPD shooting on skid row
LAPD shooting on skid row
Africa lived near the mission and helped employees “clean up every day,” Bales said. But on occasion he lashed out, he added.
"One day, he came flying out of his tent and knocked some stuff out of the hands of passersby," Bales said. He said that police did not arrest him at the time.
“The people on the street are in an untenable position and that puts the officers in an untenable position when comes to policing,” Bales said.
The incident that led to the shooting began when police responded to a robbery call in the 500 block of San Pedro Street around noon Sunday, Montgomery said. At one point during the confrontation a Taser was deployed, but Smith said it was "ineffective."
The video also shows two officers in the foreground grappling with and handcuffing a woman who had picked up a dropped police nightstick.
An angry crowd gathered immediately after the gunfire, as police cordoned off the scene and ordered onlookers to back away.
cComments
There certainly many uninformed opinions here. The standard for Use Of Force is; what is objectively reasonable. Go read Conner v Graham and Gardner v Tenn The comments are just ridiculous!
HIRAM A
AT 1:00 PM MARCH 02, 2015
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One witness can be heard complaining that there had been at least six officers to handle the situation, and that the mortally wounded man had been unarmed.
"Ain't nobody got no … gun!" he shouts.
"That man never was a threat," said Lonnie Franklin, 53, who said he was across the street when the shooting occurred. "The amount of officers present at the time could have subdued him."
It was witnesses who identified the dead man by his street name and said Africa had been living in a tent on skid row for a few months after spending a long stretch in a mental health facility.
The LAPD has struggled for years to effectively police downtown's expansive skid row, which is a frequent destination for people with severe mental illnesses.
"We have to deal with the aftermath of a system that's failed," Officer Deon Joseph, a 16-year skid row beat cop, said Sunday.
Shooting scene
Authorities close off the scene where a homeless man was shot and killed on skid row by Los Angeles police on March 1. (Christina House / For The Times)
Police Commission President Steve Soboroff said Sunday evening that he was watching the video repeatedly trying to hear exactly what the officers said to the man.
"My heart just started pounding just watching it," Soboroff said. "I feel the adrenaline. These situations are just so horrific."
Soboroff said a key issue would be whether the man did try to grab the officer's gun. Otherwise, he said, it's unclear what might have prompted the use of deadly force.
"To me, that would be the only explanation that something would happen that quickly," Soboroff said. "It escalated right in front of our eyes."
Soboroff said the LAPD, the independent inspector general and the district attorney's office would each investigate the shooting "very, very carefully."
"Of course, I would encourage people not to rush to judgment. It's not fair to anybody. It's not fair to the family of the victim or the victim or the officers," he said. "We'll find out what happened."
Last May, a mentally ill homeless man named Carlos Ocana died after falling from a rooftop after officers shocked him with a Taser. The death remains under investigation.
According to a Times data analysis, there have been 12 fatal officer-involved incidents in downtown Los Angeles since 2000. There were none in 2014 and one in 2015 before Sunday's violence.
People who witnessed Sunday's shooting described a chaotic scene leading up to the events captured on the video.
Ceola Wadell was about 20 feet away from Africa's tent, when he said he saw a police car approach the man's home and then an officer "shake it like a rag doll." When Africa stepped out of the tent, police told him to get down, Waddell said. That's when one of the officers fired his Taser at the homeless man. But “Africa” did not stay down, Wadell said on Monday.
"He got back up and it was four shots -- pow, pow, pow, pow!" said Waddell, a 58-year-old originally from Memphis, Tenn., who has been living on the streets for 10 years.
One homeless man who identified by his nickname “Juju” said he was friends with “Africa,” whom he said he last saw no more than 30 minutes before the shooting.
He said the deceased homeless man was also known as “Cameroon,” for his home country. Juju said they had been chatting about politics the last time they spoke.
"They did not have to kill my friend," Juju said.
Fact-checking a chalk scrawl: How many people are killed by the LAPD?
Fact-checking a chalk scrawl: How many people are killed by the LAPD?
He said his fellow homeless friend’s problems with police were nothing new. There were nearly daily arguments between Africa and police officers over taking down his tent, Juju said.
"He would say, 'Ticket me. Give me my day in court,'" he said.
But despite his run-ins with law enforcement, Juju said Africa was a generally peaceful man. When his tent was stolen, Africa loaned him blankets and made sure he had food to eat, Juju said.
"He was generous," he said. "He lived in a tent, but he was content."
Dennis Horne, 29, said Africa had been fighting with someone inside his tent, one of many that line streets in the area.
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When Africa refused to comply with a police order to come out of the tent, officers used a stun gun and dragged him out, Horne said. The officers tackled Africa, forcing him onto his back on the sidewalk.
"It's sad," Horne said. "There's no justification to take somebody's life."
Jose Gil, 38, said he saw Africa swinging at the police before one of the officers started shouting that the man was going for his gun.
Ina Murphy, who lives in an apartment nearby, said Africa had arrived in the area about four or five months ago. He told her he had recently been released after spending 10 years in a mental health facility, Murphy said.
Another area resident, whose driver's license identified him as Booker T. Washington, said police had come by repeatedly to ask Africa to take down his tent.
People are allowed to sleep on the streets from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., but are supposed to remove their tents during the daytime, under a court agreement.
"This man got shot over a tent," Washington said.
A group of L.A. civil rights leaders urged the Police Commission on Sunday night to hold a special hearing on the use of force by officers on skid row.
cComments
There certainly many uninformed opinions here. The standard for Use Of Force is; what is objectively reasonable. Go read Conner v Graham and Gardner v Tenn The comments are just ridiculous!
HIRAM A
AT 1:00 PM MARCH 02, 2015
ADD A COMMENTSEE ALL COMMENTS
169
Dozens of people gathered Sunday night in Pershing Square to protest the shooting.
Yannick Babou, 34, a street vendor who works in skid row, said he was selling cookies about a block from where the gunfire erupted Sunday.
"I'm not anti-police. I think we need police in society," Babou said. "But I think we need to hold police accountable when they do something wrong."
At the scene, a lone orange tent stood near a tree where two bouquets and two candles formed a makeshift memorial. A broken bat lay behind the candles.
"RIP 'Cameroon' rest in peace Africa brother" a cardboard sign reads.
As a police car pulled up to the vigil site, one homeless person shouted, "Murderers!"
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