Los Angeles: Police in Los Angeles fatally shot a homeless man on Sunday in a disturbing encounter caught on video.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the man, whom witnesses called "Africa," was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The incident occurred downtown in the city's Skid Row area and was captured on video and uploaded to Facebook.
The clip, uploaded on Facebook, and was shared nearly 122,000 times, shows a fracas which apparently show the homeless throwing a punch at police as officers try to wrestle with him.
Then a police officer drops his nightstick, which a woman picks up off the ground.
This prompted two officers to push her to the ground to restrain her. Meanwhile, several officers fight the man to the ground.
At least one officer can be heard repeatedly shouting, "Drop the gun," after which five gunshots can be heard.
One witness, Yolanda Young, told CBS2 that the altercation occurred over an argument in a tent.
“Next thing I know, dude swung on a cop and the cop swung back. And they were hitting on him and then two other cop cars pulled up and they got out of the car and ran over there, and they had three Tasers out," Young said.
Africa had spent 10 years at a mental facility before settling into Skid Row four or five months ago, neighbour Ina Murphy was quoted by the LA Times.
Another resident also said that police had asked Africa multiple times to dismantle his tent, in accordance to a court ruling that allows folks to sleep on Skid Row at night as long as they take down their tents during the day.
LAPD spokesman Sgt. Barry Montgomery said the officers were responding to a robbery call on the 500 block of San Pedro Street.
No officers were hurt. The name of the victim has not been released.
A probe will be conducted to determine if the use of force was properly employed.
