Shocking Video: US police fatally shoot homeless man in Los Angeles

| Updated: Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 13:12 [IST]

Los Angeles, March 3: Few days after a senior citizen from India faced the discrimination from the US police, a similar incident happened on March 1, Sunday, when a homeless African man became the victim of their brutality.

According to reports, Los Angeles police fatally shot dead a man, near "Skid Row", a run-down area where many homeless people live in tents.

The deadly incident was caught on video, where it is seen that a violent altercation takes place between the man and police officers in Centtral Los Angeles.

[Read: Officer who assaulted Sureshbhai arrested; FBI to probe matter]

In an amateur video, that went viral, someone is also heard saying, "Drop the gun" four times, as several onlookers watch the incident.

Los Angeles Police Department told a news agency that three police officers - a sergeant and two officers, shot at the man.

The man, whose identity is yet to be revealed, succumbed to the injuries at the spot, paramedics said.

Some witnesses said that the man, who was known as 'Africa' and had been battling with mental illness, was fighting with someone in his tent, before the police arrived there.

The police had gone there to arrest a suspect in a robbery case, reported from the same area.

An independent inspector general, the district attorney and the LAPD Force Investigation Division, will carry out the investigation into the case.

Officers who shot dead man removed

Confirming the incident, Commander Andrew Smith, LAPD spokesman, told AFP, " those officers who fired on the man have been removed from the field and assigned home for the time being."

He also added that it is not yet known how many shots were fired at him and exactly how many officers were present at the scene.

The area remained in tension for hours after the incident took place.

This is not the first time when US police has shot at the black people.

On Tuesday, US president Barack Obama said that the deaths of unarmed black men in Missouri and New York show that law enforcement needs to change practices to build trust in minority communities, with a White House task force recommending independent outside investigations when police use deadly force.

After shooting, #LAPDShooting trends on Twitter

Social media played a huge part in spreading news of Sunday's #LAPDShooting pic.twitter.com/6FmWGwe2Lk
— Annenberg TV News (@atvn) March 3, 2015

#LAPDShooting In this callous society we criminalize poverty, homelessness, and mental illness. Too often, they become capital crimes.
— Harold Itzkowitz (@HaroldItz) March 3, 2015

On Skid Row, local community mourns homeless man after #LAPDShooting: "RIP 'Cameroon' rest in peace Africa brother" pic.twitter.com/dae5uaD8NP
— AJ+ (@ajplus) March 2, 2015

RT @BRios82: If 5 Cops cannot control one man's wrists while subduing him, they're not qualified to be Police Officers. #LAPD #LAPDShooting
— Big Boi (@BigBoi) March 2, 2015

CNN: Witness who took video: Man killed by #LAPD didn't reach for officer's gun http://t.co/fhyBbQq83A #LAPDShooting
— Anonymous (@occupythemob) March 3, 2015