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Los Angeles: 14-year-old killed by ricochet from a police weapon

2021-12-28T07:03:04.747Z


While shopping, a youth in Los Angeles was fatally hit by a police bullet. Civil rights activists criticize the firing. The investigators announced a "transparent" investigation.


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Memory of the 14-year-old who was fatally struck by a police bullet in Los Angeles

Photo: ROBYN BECK / AFP

Los Angeles Police (LAPD) have released video footage of an incident in which a 14-year-old was killed by a ricochet from a police officer's weapon.

The day before Christmas Eve, the teenager was shopping for clothes for her 15th birthday with her mother when she was fatally struck in a locker room.

The police said they had been called to the department store in North Hollywood because of an attack and an alleged firing.

No firearm found on suspect

Surveillance camera footage shows a man walking through the store with a heavy bicycle lock in hand, beating people.

Recordings from the police's body cameras document how several emergency services arrive on site with guns drawn.

Seconds after they identify the suspect, one of the officers shoots.

The suspect falls to the ground and is handcuffed.

He was also killed.

No firearm was found on him, the police said.

According to investigators, a bullet fired by the police officer ricocheted off the floor and smashed through the wall of the dressing room where the youth was.

"Thorough, complete and transparent" investigation announced

The policeman who fired the shots was transferred to administrative service while the investigation was in progress, said a spokesman for the LAPD.

LAPD chief Michel Moore promised in a statement a "thorough, complete and transparent" investigation into what he called a "devastating" tragedy.

The California Attorney General's office should also open an independent investigation.

The civil rights organization Lulac criticized it as irresponsible that police officers "fired shots in a busy shop at the height of their Christmas shopping without knowing whether the suspect was armed."

The incident is the latest in a series of fatal firearms use by US police officers.

There are no national statistics on such cases.

bbr / AFP / AP

Source: spiegel

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