A Case of Itchy Trigger Fingers?
There's something scary about this scene that took place a few weeks ago in Glassell Park, which ended with LAPD Officers shooting two alleged gang members, injuring one and killing another:
The Nissan suddenly stopped and Daniel Leon, 22, and Jose Angel Gomez, 18, jumped out and began shooting at officers, Leon with an AK-47 rifle and Gomez with a handgun.
Now, this past week, we hear of three more officer involved shootings. Are criminals getting more violent or are cops on edge after a widely publicized incident in Glassell Park and the recent death of a SWAT team member? Maybe things are as usual, but here are three more incidents from the past week where Los Angeles police have used force that ended in deadly consequences.
- Most notably, a passenger in a car that was in a short pursuit exited the vehicle and approach a LAPD officer on a motorcycle who shot and killed the man. Police say he was holding an object, which ended up being a short microphone stand, a friend of the victim says that's not what happened.
- An early evening police chase with a SUV on Saturday in South LA led to an officer involved shooting at Crenshaw and Slauson where the driver was said to have a weapon. The man died. In another report, it was reported that the man made a threatening motion and did not mention a weapon.
- Around the same time on Saturday, a 25-year-old man in Cypress Park was shot and killed by LAPD in a foot chase where a gun was uncovered at the scene. The LA Times reports that "two neighbors said Arevalo was among more than 30 people at a gathering after the funeral for Marcos Salas, 36, who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting Feb. 21 while picking up his daughter at school."
That drive-by shooting of Marcos Salas was what started the whole Glassell Park shootout in the first place.
Photo by CarbonNYC via Flickr
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