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