Over the last two years, the Los Angeles Police Department has dealt with several controversial shootings by officers, including one involving an unarmed homeless man on skid row that was also captured on video.
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Officials said the sheriff’s deputies had received a series of 911 calls reporting a “man with a gun” and “shots heard”, according to City News Service.
Cell phone video taken of the shooting shows Robertson crawling away from the deputies as they fire, but Katz said additional video from the scene shows that Robertson was “motioning (the gun) in the direction of the deputy sheriffs” and wouldn’t put the gun down as he was being shot.
The deputies confronted Robertson as they investigated 911 calls from the witnesses who said a man was walking down a residential street and then through a busy commercial area holding a weapon and acting strangely. Katz said witnesses reported he fired six to seven shots in the air and briefly went into a auto wash and a pizza parlor before the deputies arrived.
A video was shown at the news conference of Robertson walking passed a gas station parking lot in a seemingly agitated state with the handgun.
Deputies opened fire and continue to shoot Robertson, even as he is seen crawling.
“Witnesses in the immediate area said they saw the suspect turn and point the gun at the deputies prior to the shooting”, the statement said.
There was no evidence that they were fired upon by the suspect, who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Katz. 45 caliber handgun, was recovered from the scene. In this image made from security video footage provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff, Nicholas Robertson is stretched out on the ground with a gun in his hand after he was…
Deputies caught up with Robertson as he was crossing Long Beach Boulevard toward an Arco gas station.
Katz told the LA Times that the investigation is ongoing, and that Robertson may have had a “domestic discord” with his wife that could have prompted his actions.
“The shooting of Robertson comes on the heels of the Chicago Police shooting of Lacquan McDonald and is eerily similar”, Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson said in a statement. And there’s been plenty of these cases in Los Angeles, too. McDonnell said that the two deputies involved have been reassigned from field duty during the investigation. Authorities said he was continuing to hold the gun at that time. Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, right, looks on as Homicide Bureau Capt. Steven Katz speaks to reporters during a news conference about Saturday’s fatal shooting of a man in Lynwood, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015, in Los A… “Nothing”, Monica Reddix said. “It’s very troubling anytime you have someone shot and killed by police officers, especially those who are shot in the back and shot again and they crawled to their death”, Ali said before urging calm from community members.
“When he collapsed, his arms were underneath him and the gun was still in his hand”. “They shot him; as he crawled, they continued to shoot him”.
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The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has identified the man shot by sheriff’s deputies as Nicholas Robertson, 28, of Lynwood.
