[Warning: The video contains graphic violent content and may be disturbing to some viewers]
Los Angeles police were called to a hamburger restaurant after they were notified about a man breaking windows in the eatery. When officers confronted the man outside the restaurant, they first struck him with a Taser. It didn’t work, and the man kept walking away from the car. They told him to put his hands up and when he refused, he seemed to turn towards an officer, as if to strike him.
Then shots rang out. An officer who didn’t use the Taser was the shooter, then the other officer joined in. Around 10 shots were fired at the man, who collapsed near a car.
“Not exactly optimal, but at this point, they did what they had to do,” said Lt. Eddie Hernandez of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, according to ABC News.
This shooting was captured on a video posted on YouTube, but some of the scene is distorted since it was shot through a raindrop-littered window.
As mentioned in the New York Daily News, the man doesn’t appear to have swung a metal bar at the officer. He seemed to have turned towards the officer with the weapon, however.
The man was rushed to the hospital and was later pronounced dead.
KTLA 5 adds a woman sitting across the street in another was hurt by shattered glass believed to have been caused by a stray bullet. No one else was injured.
It’s unclear if the police officers involved will be investigated by any internal affairs department.
