There’s been another shooting of a Black man by the law enforcement. Reports confirm that the L.A. sheriff’s deputies shot a man multiple times after being stopped for a “vehicle code” violation.
It has only been more than a week since Jacob Blake was shot seven times by the Kenosha Police. Reuters now confirms that there’s been an LA shooting, which involves the county sheriff’s deputies.
The victim is identified as Dijon Kizzee, a 29-year-old Black man.
LA shooting: What happened?
According to reports, Kizzee was stopped by two Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies for an alleged “vehicle code” violation. He was riding his bicycle when he was asked to stop.
Based on the statement of Lieutenant Brandon Dean of the Los Angeles County sheriff, Kizzee dropped a semiautomatic handgun from a bundle of clothes he had been clutching when he punched one of the officers on the face.
During the contact, a fight ensued between the suspect and deputies. The suspect produced a handgun and a deputy-involved “hit” shooting occurred. The suspect’s handgun was recovered. The suspect was pronounced deceased at the scene.
— LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) September 1, 2020
The officers fired around 15 to 20 shots, or what they call “opened fire,” when Kizzee allegedly motioned to pick up the gun.
Dean says, “Whether the firearm was actually in his hand, if he was motioning towards it, I don’t have those specifics because we haven’t interviewed the actual deputies who were there yet.”
One of the local witnesses told Reuters that she never saw Kizzee punch the officer, nor did she see a gun.
Kizzee reportedly jumped off his bike and started running away. The shots were fired when police caught up. According to another witness, Deja Roquemore, she saw Kizzee lift his arms up in the air, shouting, “I don’t have anything. What do you want?” before he darted away on foot.
Roquemore narrates that the police kept firing at the man even though he was already lying motionless on the ground.
Roquemore continued to narrate that she saw one of the officers fire a Taser before Kizzee started running. However, Dean denies the deployment of a Taser.
L.A. shooting: Was there an actual threat from Kizzee?
Per CNN, Activist Najee Ali and Attorney Ben Crump will be representing Kizzee’s family. Crump, a known Civil Rights advocate, is also representing Jacob Blake‘s family in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
According to Ali, “Being in possession of a gun, but actually using a gun, having it in your hands are two different things.”
He contends that Kizzee “did not point the gun” at the officers.
LA Shooting Update.
Key word from their own report "DROPPED"
If gun was on ground by their OWN admission why would u need to shoot suspect 27 times?
Stealing and illegal possession of a firearm is not an extrajudicial death sentence.
Seems like revenge for the punch to me. pic.twitter.com/cT6mJYNWVd
— Kris Hulbert (@gratwickfilms) September 1, 2020
Similar to the shooting in Kenosha, the police officers did not have body cameras on them, which makes it difficult to corroborate the narrative of the incident.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Dean is still uncertain as to what vehicle code violation was Kizzee suspected of. Although he notes that vehicle stops for bicycles are not uncommon.
Featured image courtesy of veeterzy/Unsplash