Lawyer for family of LA man shot by police says officers shot him in back more than 20 times. Cops deny it.



Police shot a Los Angeles man, Dijon Kizzee, at least 20 times during a Monday incident, his family's attorney says.

Cops fatally shot Kizzee after he was reportedly violating vehicle codes while riding a bicycle. Kizzee fled, and allegedly dropped a semiautomatic handgun and had punched an officer in the face before police fired shots.

What are the details?

Attorney Ben Crump — who represents families of Ahmaud Arbery, Jacob Blake, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor — tweeted about the killing on Tuesday, said that authorities stopped Kizzee for violating the code, shot him more than 20 times, and left him for "hours."

Crump wrote, "[Dijon Kizzee], a 29yo Black man, was fatally shot by @LASDHQ deputies. Cops stopped him while riding his bike for alleged 'vehicle code violation.' They say he ran, dropped clothes and handgun. He didn't pick it up, but cops shot him in the back 20+ times then left him for hours."

#DijonKizzee, a 29yo Black man, was fatally shot by @LASDHQ deputies. Cops stopped him while riding his bike for al… https://t.co/cPVeJAf4hb
— Ben Crump (@Ben Crump)1598972081.0

What else?

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Brandon Dean initially told the Los Angeles Times that reports alleging that police shot the victim more than 20 times were erroneous.

Dean on Monday said that two officers approached Kizzee riding his bicycle and determined that he had violated "codes," which remain unnamed at the time of this reporting.

When the officers stopped Kizzee, he reportedly abandoned his bicycle and began running.

"Our suspect was holding some items of clothing in his hands, punched one of the officers in the face, and then dropped the items in his hands," Dean said during a news conference on the shooting. "The deputies noticed that inside the clothing items he dropped was a black semiautomatic handgun, at which time a deputy-involved shooting occurred."

First responders pronounced Kizzee dead at the scene.

"Give us time to conduct our investigation," Dean advised reporters. "We will get all of the facts of this case and eventually present them."

The officers, who have not been identified at the time of this reporting, were removed from patrol duty pending an investigation into the incident.

Kizzee's killing sparked a fresh wave of protests against police brutality across the city.

(Content warning: Rough language, distressing imagery):

Shooting by police on 109th/Normandie in Los Angeles. Killed with 27 shots. And then they handcuffed him dead. https://t.co/YG20VaqKTI
— lovinglynn (@lovinglynn)1598924046.0

(H/T: Fox News)

Black man killed by sheriff's deputies in Los Angeles after they confront him for riding bike illegally



Protests broke out in south Los Angeles on Monday after Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies shot and killed a black man they stopped for riding a bike illegally, ABC News reported.

The speed with which anti-police protests mobilized after the shooting highlight the extreme tension surrounding the issue of police violence against minorities. A day later, there are still few details available on the incident, and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department is urging the public to be patient with the investigation.

"Give us time to conduct our investigation," Lt. Brandon Dean said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "We will get all of the facts of this case and eventually present them."

What happened?

According to Dean, two deputies saw a man riding a bike in violation of vehicle codes Monday afternoon. Dean said he doesn't know what the specific violation was.

The deputies confronted the man, who has been identified as 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee. Dean said that Kizzee dropped his bike and fled when the deputies attempted to make contact with him.

They caught up to Kizzee after about a block, and Kizzee allegedly punched one of them in the face. During the altercation, Kizzee dropped a bundle of clothes he was carrying, and the deputies spotted a gun on the ground in the clothes. Both deputies shot Kizzee, killing him.

A witness video posted to social media shows a clip of the deputies chasing Kizzee down the street, and a subsequent clip shows the moments after they shot him.

Content warning: vulgar language and potentially disturbing imagery:

Shooting by police on 109th/Normandie in Los Angeles. Killed with 27 shots. And then they handcuffed him dead. https://t.co/YG20VaqKTI
— lovinglynn (@lovinglynn)1598924046.0

What we still don't know

There are crucial details missing at this time, as authorities continue to investigate the shooting. We don't know what the initial violation was that caused the deputies to pursue Kizzee. We don't know whether Kizzee was in legal possession of the weapon he was carrying. We don't know whether Kizzee was attempting to reach for or use his weapon against the deputies when they shot him or whether he simply dropped it on the ground.

Still, a large group of protesters marched on the sheriff's department Monday evening and night, chanting and protesting what they believe was another unjust killing of a black man. In the past six months, the police killings of Breonna Taylor in Louisville and George Floyd in Minneapolis and most recently the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, have spurred a perpetual state of protest and rioting in some parts of the United States.