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Deputies Shoot And Kill Black Man In South LA, Sparking Protest
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Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies shot and killed a Black man Monday afternoon, sparking a protest and an investigation by homicide detectives. Two deputies tried to stop the man as he was riding his bicycle and the encounter turned violent, the Sheriff's Department says.
A large crowd gathered near the scene of the shooting in south Los Angeles, chanting "no justice, no peace" as deputies stood facing them. They also chanted the name Dijon Kizzee — the dead man's name, according to the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter and media reports citing family members. Officials have not yet publicly identified the man.
The fatal encounter took place around 3:15 p.m. local time. The Sheriff's Department said the two deputies saw the man riding his bicycle in violation of vehicle codes, according to the LA Times, but offered no details about the man or the nature of any infraction.
The man dropped the bike and fled on foot. An eyewitness video shows him running and carrying what looks to be a bundle of clothing.
When deputies caught up with the man, he "punched one of the officers in the face and then dropped the items in his hands," sheriff's Lt. Brandon Dean said during a briefing Monday evening.
"The deputies noticed that inside the clothing items that he dropped was a black semiautomatic handgun — at which time a deputy-involved shooting occurred," Dean added. He referred to the man as a "suspect."
Portions of a witness video posted by Los Angeles TV station Fox 11 shows the man's body on the ground behind a pickup truck as angry onlookers yell at deputies in the street.
"No deputies were injured" in the incident, Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez wrote in a statement.
In the aftermath, the local Black Lives Matter chapter called for a public protest.
"Los Angeles County Sheriffs killed a Black man...Dijon...on 109th and Budlong and left his body facedown in the dirt," the group tweeted. "We need all hands on deck. Please get here ASAP!"
Protesters also marched to the nearby sheriff's station, where the demonstration continued past midnight. "There were some reports of vandalism during the march, but there was no violence and no arrests," CBS-Los Angeles reports.
Monday's deadly shooting comes less than three months after 18-year-old Andres Guardado was shot and killed by an LA County sheriff's deputy in Gardena and amid months of protests across the U.S. over police use of deadly force against Black people and other minorities.
Intense protests continue in Kenosha, Wis., over the shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake, whom police shot in the back multiple times at point-blank range just over a week ago. That shooting has also triggered counter-protests — and a 17-year-old suspect has been charged with homicide after a shooting that left two people dead and a third injured, all of whom had been protesting police brutality.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
Correction
An earlier version of this story said that Jacob Blake had been fatally shot by police in Kenosha, Wis. Blake was injured but survived.
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