Los Angeles police investigating officer-involved shooting after pursuit
LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating a deadly officer-involved shooting in South Los Angeles that came at the end of a vehicle pursuit, authorities said, CBS Los Angeles reports.
The shooting was reported at about 1 p.m. Saturday in the area of 107th Street and Western Avenue, said LAPD Officer Drake Madison of the Media Relations Section.
The car chase began when police said they saw paper plates on a car that came back reported stolen.
Reporting for CBS Los Angeles at 5 p.m., Jeff Nguyen said police had not yet officially identified the deceased.
According to the Associated Press, relatives of the dead man identified him as 18-year-old Carnell Snell Jr. Relatives told the Los Angeles Times that he was killed on the same street where he lived.
Trenell Snell, 17, said she was outside with friends when she saw her older brother running from police. She said she started running too, and that she hit the ground when she heard gunfire.
When she got up, her brother was on the ground, handcuffed, she said.
“At the end of the day, the cops came and shot my brother,” she said. “Killed my brother.”
Snell’s mother told reporters she asked authorities to let her see the dead man to confirm whether he is her son, but they wouldn’t allow her to do so.
By 8 p.m., a woman who said she was the deceased’s mother cried in pain.
“Please let me see my baby. If that’s my baby, please let me see him,” she said.
Police said the Snell was one of three people in the stolen vehicle, and Snell was a passenger. Police said the driver and another passenger fled and are still at large.
At the end of the chase, police and witnesses said the deceased was running from the location through back yards.
A large gathering of police near the scene of the shooting could be seen in photos posted to social media.
Nguyen said some of the people, stricken with grief, were even unable to stand.
Witnesses told him they saw a man -- believed to be Snell -- running with his hands up, and said he was telling officers he was unarmed, when police shot him about five times.
“We seen the little boy running, with the blue shirt on,” said one woman, “I seen him running with his hands up. Like ‘Don’t shoot me.’”
Police said they recovered a weapon at the scene.