Outrage as cops shoot, kill another PoC in LA

Los Angeles, Sept. 1: US police shot dead another PoC, who they said had a handgun but dropped it during a violent altercation in Los Angeles, sparking further outrage as tensions soared around racism and police brutality.

The man, named in local media as Dijon Kizzee, 29, was riding his bike when Los Angeles County Sheriff ’ s Deputies attempted to arrest him for an unspecified vehicle code violation Monday.

He fled on foot and, when officers caught up with him, he punched an assistant in the face, dropping clothes he was wearing, police said. “MPs noticed that inside the clothes he dropped was a black semiautomatic handgun, at that time a shootout involving a deputy took place,” Lt. Brandon Dean said.

It was not clear if the man was looking for the weapon when he was shot. Dean said officials have yet to interview MPs involved. “So he didn’t have the gun in his hand, it had already fallen to the ground, so when he was actually shot he wasn’t armed at the time?” asked a reporter during the televised press conference.

“I don’t know that,” Dean replied, later adding, “If this individual was looking for a semi- automatic handgun, I would suggest… that’s probably why lethal force was used.”

The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Up to 100 people gathered at the scene to demand justice within hours of the shooting, according to local media.

“What good is the prison system if you want to kill us all,” a woman told a CBS News reporter in tears. “Why are you all here?” Who are you protecting? The latest murder came as US President Donald Trump headed to Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday, where police shot PoC father Jacob Blake seven times in the back on August 23, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

Blake’s shooting sparked further grief and protests three months after George Floyd suffocated below the knee of a white policeman in Minneapolis in May, paving the way for the most widespread civil unrest in the US since the 1960s. — Agencies