Man killed by police near San Diego ID’d as Ugandan

Acquaintance says refugee had been mentally ill.

EL CAJON, CALIF. — Dozens of demonstrators on Wednesday protested the killing of a black man shot by an officer after authorities said the man pulled an object from a pocket, pointed it and assumed a “shooting stance.”

Protesters who gathered outside the suburban San Diego police station in El Cajon chanted “no killer cops” and “black lives matter.” Demonstrators who said they knew the man killed Tuesday identified him as Alfred Olango, a refugee from Uganda.

Agnes Hassan, originally from Sudan, described Olango as well-educated but mentally ill. She said she spent time in a refugee camp with Olango and both of them had suffered before arriving in the United States.

The man witnesses identified as Olango died after an El Cajon officer fired an electronic stun gun at him and another officer simultaneously shot him several times, El Cajon Police Chief Jeff Davis told reporters at a news conference. Davis did not describe the object, but acknowledged it was not a weapon.

Christopher Rice-Wilson, associated director of the civil rights group Alliance San Diego, questioned why one of the officers felt non-lethal force was appropriate while the other did not.

He was among those who identified Olango on Wednesday. Police Lt. Rob Ransweiler declined to confirm the victim’s name but said he was in his 30s and was believed to be from Uganda.

Some protesters said Tuesday night that Olango was shot while his hands were raised. Police disputed that and produced a frame from a cellphone video taken by a witness that appeared to show the man in a “shooting stance” as two officers approached with weapons drawn.

The fatal shooting happened just weeks after black men were shot and killed by police in Tulsa, Okla., and in Charlotte, N.C., where violent protests broke out.

Candles and flowers were left Wednesday at the shooting scene, near blood stains on the pavement.

Davis urged the community to remain calm and said the investigation will be thorough.

“This will be transparent,” he said. “This will be looked at by multiple sets of eyes, and not just ours.”

Police said they were called to the mall shortly after 2 p.m. by the victim’s sister, who said he was “not acting like himself ” and walking in traffic. They said the man refused “multiple” orders to take his hand from his pocket, then was shot after pulling out the object that authorities declined to describe.

Police said that when detectives arrived, a female witness came forward and voluntarily provided cellphone video of the incident. Authorities released the single frame from it but not the video. El Cajon officers do not wear body cameras.

Other videos quickly surfaced showing the aftermath. In one posted to Facebook, an unidentified woman is heard telling police at the scene that the man was ordered to take his hand out of his pocket.

“I said: ‘Take your hand out your pocket, baby, or they’re going to shoot you.’ He said ‘no, no, no,’ “the woman said. “When he lifted his hand out ... he did have something in his hand but it wasn’t no gun, and that’s when they shot him.”

Another woman on the video wearing hospital-style work clothing identified herself as the victim’s sister. She shrieked and cried, telling officers that she had called them to help her brother.

GREGORY BULL / AP People protest at the El Cajon Police Department in California on Wednesday. A black man reportedly acting erratically was shot and killed Tuesday by police after pulling an object from his pocket.