New footage surfaces of fatal LAPD Skid Row shooting

Updated


More footage of the fatal LAPD shooting on Skid Row has surfaced, offering a new angle to the incident.

Officers tased, shot and killed a homeless man, known as Africa, after an altercation Sunday in the city's downtown Skid Row area. A video of the dramatic incident was posted on Facebook shortly after.

It shows police tackling the man after he starts flailing his arms around. A Taser is fired twice and one officer is heard yelling, "Drop the gun!" Five shots can be heard in the video while Africa is on the ground.

The latest footage comes from a surveillance camera at a homeless shelter. It shows the man talking to police when they arrived on the scene. Then he tries to enter his tent and struggles with police.

A witness told CNN, "I heard officers say, 'He's going for it! He's going for my gun! And that's when the officers backed up and five shots rang out."

In a press conference, Police Chief Charlie Beck explained officers became concerned when Africa entered his tent because they didn't know what he was trying to retrieve.

According to Beck, the officers were investigating a robbery when Africa refused to cooperate and started fighting back, even reaching for an officer's gun at one point.. Beck insists the shooting was justified.

"This is an awful tragedy, but the officers took on the face of it took reasonable step to avoid it. Had the individual not grabbed the officer's pistol certainly we would not be having this discussion."

But others have a different account of what happened.

"I think it was kind of extreme."

"He didn't have no weapon, they just shot him. They could have just wrestled him down and took him to jail, but they shot him five times. "

ABC News reports two investigations have been launched.

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