A screengrab from the video that shows two Los Angeles county sheriff’s deputies shoot and kill a suspect in Lynwood on December 12, 2015. The deputies have not been named.
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The activists want the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the shooting and launch a broader probe into the use of force by the Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies responded to multiple emergency calls received of a “man with a gun” and “shots heard”, according to a statement Saturday from the LASD.
The man, named by relatives as 28-year-old Nicholas Robertson, was reported to be walking the streets of Lynwood yesterday morning while firing shots into the air before police were called. Authorities said they have some intel about a possible “domestic discord” between Robertson and his spouse “that may have been a factor that agitated him to some degree”, but they said this has yet to be verified. If the deputies think the suspect could pose a threat to bystanders by walking toward the gas station, they could be justified in opening fire, he said.
The sheriff’s department also said it’d witnesses who’d seen the defendant point and turn a gun at the deputies before the shooting.
Watch KTLA’s video report of the Nicholas Robertson shooting below. He is seen injured, crawling on the ground. Robertson’s body flinches on the ground as he is struck.
“They are going to have to articulate why they made every one of those shots”, said Ed Obayashi, an Inyo County deputy and an attorney.
Police said that the man, who has not been named, turned and pointed his weapon, a loaded. 45 caliber handgun was found at the scene.
Lieutenant Eddie Hernandez told that his department is aware of the video and that it is being looked at, and appealed for anyone else with footage to come forward.
Nicholas Robertson with one of his daughters. They said he was a married father of three.
His family told the Los Angeles Times he took good care of his three children.
“They shot him in his shoulder, and he was crawling to this gas station”, said Pamela Brown, Robertson’s mother-in-law. “What?? They could have Tased him, or anything”. “We do have evidence that the suspect did fire the weapon multiple times prior to the interaction with the deputies”.
Sheriff Jim McDonnell urged caution over drawing conclusions from the eyewitness video.
The dramatic video, which was filmed just after 11 a.m. Saturday in the city of Lynwood, is the latest in a series of controversial officer-involved shootings across the country over the past several years and has provoked protests, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The sheriff asked that anyone with additional information or video regarding the shooting to contact the sheriff’s homicide detectives, who are spearheading the investigation. Our number one priority is public safety.
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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department could not be reached immediately on Sunday to comment on the reports of the video capturing the incident, which occurred a day earlier.
