MOSCOW, December 6 (Sputnik) — The Los Angeles police department has confirmed that a man who was shot multiple times by an officer in Hollywood for allegedly wielding knife has died of his wounds in a hospital.
Police say they responded to reports of a man with a knife at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue just before 7 p.m. on Friday.
According to the local media, Detective Meghan Aguilar of the LAPD said officers had fired after seeing the man approach them while armed with a knife.
A combination knife, similar to a Swiss Army Knife, was reportedly found at the scene.
The suspect was initially critically wounded. Los Angeles City Fire transported him to a hospital, where he later died.
However, one of the witnesses, Jordan White, said on Twitter that the man was not armed.
LAPD just murdered an unarmed man right in front of me. #LAPD pic.twitter.com/8vdvJYrww0
— Jordan White (@jordanwhiteLA) 6 декабря 2014
He posted a video of a man lying in the street following the shooting on his page in Facebook.
“Police just shot a man in the head 10 times for no reason right in front of me,” he said in the comment.
BREAKING Please can someone explain why having a knife is a death sentence? LA man killed tonight by police…. http://t.co/MFAuY99WMN
— No Justice No Peace (@drumbeats4peace) 6 декабря 2014
The incident has already sparked online debates; many are questioning why having a knife warrants a death sentence.
The incident has become the latest in a string of police brutality cases in the US.
On Friday, hundreds took to the streets of Phoenix, Arizona to protest the latest shooting of an African-American by a white police officer; the victim’s pills had been mistaken for a gun.
In New York, police have arrested more than 200 people protesting a grand jury decision to not indict a white officer who killed Eric Garner, an African-American, by choking him to death earlier this year.
Ferguson is still gripped by violent protests over the death of Michael Brown, whose killing by a police officer set off a national debate on race and police tactics.
