L.A. coroner: Teen shot 5 times in back

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has determined that Andres Guardado, the 18year-old killed by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy last month in Gardena, Calif., was shot five times in the back, according to the official autopsy report released Friday.

All five gunshot wounds were fatal, the report said. The cause of death was certified on July 7 as multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death was certified as homicide, the coroner’s office said.

The coroner’s office released the document, despite the “security hold” in place by the sheriff’s department, after the family’s attorneys earlier this week released the results of an independent autopsy that drew the same conclusion.

There had been growing demands for answers by activists and Guardado’s family, who called the shooting unjustified. The family’s attorneys said the independent findings showed that Guardado’s death was “the result of unjustified police violence against an innocent young man.”

The department has said Guardado was shot and killed about 6 p.m. June 18, after two deputies saw him speaking to someone in a car blocking the entrance to a body shop on West Redondo Beach Boulevard. Investigators said Guardado “produced a handgun” and ran away, and that deputies chased him and fired.