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LOS ANGELES (AP) – A black man was shot and killed by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies after he was pulled over for a traffic violation while riding a bicycle, then fled police, hit an officer, and then ” he made a move “toward a gun on the ground, authorities said.
The Monday afternoon shooting death of Dijon Kizzee in South Los Angeles sparked a peaceful protest hours later. Black Lives Matter marched Tuesday night from the scene to the sheriff’s station.
The murder came on the heels of the Kenosha, Wisconsin police shooting that left Jacob Blake, who is also black, paralyzed and sparked days of protests, reinvigorating the national debate on racial injustice and policing.
Also Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to ask the coroner to conduct an investigation into the fatal shooting of an officer against Andres Guarded, 18, on June 18. Guarded was shot five times in the back after officers said they saw him. with a gun and ran. Guarded’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday against the county, the Sheriff’s Department and the officers involved in the shooting.
Kizzee’s family and friends created a small memorial for him at the scene of the Westmont neighborhood shooting, leaving flowers, balloons and candles just feet from discarded blue medical gloves and rolled bandages from first responders.
The Sheriff’s Department has not released Kizzee’s name, but two family members confirmed his identity. In interviews with The Associated Press, they remembered Kizzee, 29, as an energetic man with many friends and expressed anger over the shooting.
“You take care of the dogs. You don’t take care of us, ”said Kizzee’s aunt, Fletcher Fair, addressing the Sheriff’s Department. “He was a sweet and loving young man. He had his whole life ahead of him, and he was interrupted by rogue bailiffs. “
Kizzee’s uncle, Anthony Johnson, 33, said they grew up together and were as close as brothers. Johnson said he often warned his nephew that, as a black man, he had to be especially careful.
“‘You have a target on your back, just to be you,'” Johnson recalled telling Kizzee a few weeks ago. “He was like, ‘Yeah, okay, man,’ like he always says.”
A Sheriff’s Department statement released Tuesday night said officers had tried to arrest Kizzee for riding a bike in violation of vehicle codes, but he dropped his bike and took off running. He did not provide further details on the alleged violation.
The deputies momentarily lost sight of him. But when they caught up with him, he immediately punched an officer in the face and dropped a jacket, causing a black semi-automatic pistol to fall to the ground, the statement said.
The shooting occurred when the man “made a movement” toward the weapon, according to the statement.
Latiera Irby, 29, told the Los Angeles Times that she had stopped by her mother’s house to get her hair done when Kizzee walked up to her car and said, “They’re coming to get me; come to get me. “
Kizzee offered him money to leave.
“I didn’t know who he was running from, so I said no,” he said.
Irby said that a short time later, he saw Kizzee get into a fight with an officer, who backed off and then shot him.
The same officer and another shot Kizzee after he fell to the ground, he said, adding: “He had nothing in his hands.”
Police said the weapon was recovered and no officers were injured. Television news helicopters displayed a weapon near the body.
Dean said investigators had not yet interviewed witnesses or reviewed any surveillance or cell phone video.
“Give us time to carry out our investigation,” he said. “We will get all the facts in this case and eventually present them.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the largest in the country, does not have body cameras for officers, although that will soon change. The county Board of Supervisors approved the funding on Tuesday and the first round of deputies will be equipped with cameras next month.
Ed Obayashi, a police agency’s use of force consultant and deputy sheriff in Plumas County, said Los Angeles County officers will need to explain how they feel Kizzee poses an immediate threat even though his weapon was in the floor.
“In order for officers to justify the shooting of Mr. Kizzee, they will have to express that they reasonably feared for his safety,” Obayashi said.
It will be important for the deputies to be specific, he said.
“What made you believe that he was an immediate and ongoing threat to the public?” Obayashi said. Did you think he was still armed? Why? And if you were armed and fled, what was your reason for feeling that you were a threat to you or the public?
Fair described his nephew as “the son of a mother” and said Kizzee took care of his mother after a car accident until her death in 2011 from a heart attack. After that, she took care of her younger brother, Sean Jones, 18, a recent high school graduate.
Fair lives near where Kizzee was killed and couldn’t believe the circumstances surrounding her nephew’s death.
“How is it infringed on a bicycle?” she asked. “I stayed here until their body was collected. I did not want to leave “.
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This story has been updated to correct that the dead man’s last name is Kizzee, not Kizee.
