-
May 12, 2008 5:17 am US/Pacific
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
Police Kill 1 Man, Injure Another In Inglewood
Officer-Involved Shooting In Inglewood Angers Community On Mother's Day
INGLEWOOD, Calif.
Inglewood police killed one man and wounded another after opening fire on a vehicle, believing mistakenly that its occupants had shot at them, authorities said.
Two officers were in the area of Crenshaw Boulevard and 85th Street at 1:40 a.m. Sunday when they said they heard gunshots coming from the parking lot of a Rally's Restaurant, according to Inglewood police Sgt. Jeff Steinhoff.
"As they looked over, their attention was drawn to a male running away eastbound from the parking lot," Steinhoff said.
The male entered a vehicle, which moved slowly through the parking lot in the 3000 block of Manchester Boulevard, said Inglewood police Sgt. Hector Ramirez.
The officers said they felt something hit their patrol vehicle and reported hearing gunshots which they believed had come from the car, Ramirez said. Both officers then fired multiple shots into the suspects' vehicle, hitting two of its three occupants, he said.
The car stopped directly across from them, he said.
Michael Woods Byoune, 19, of Los Angeles, a passenger in the vehicle, died at the scene, said coroner's Lt. John Kades.
The driver was taken to an area hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg. He is currently listed in stable condition and expected to survive, Ramirez said.
The third person in the car was unharmed, Ramirez said.
Neither officer was hurt. Their car had not been hit by gunfire, Sgt. Dennis Brown told The Times.
No weapons were recovered and no one has been charged with a crime, the newspaper reported.
Vidal Garcia, a night manager at Rally's Restaurant -- which is located about 30 yards from where the officers fired upon the vehicle -- told the newspaper he "heard lots of gunshots" and was surprised police didn't find any weapons "because there were gunshots before the cops even got there."
Another Rally's employee told The Times he saw the police taking out their guns, and he and two co-workers ducked as soon as they heard gunfire. The man then reported hearing screaming after more than 15 shots.
He said recalled hearing someone say, "Oh, I can't breathe" and "I'm not armed," The Times reported.
Some community residents quickly condemned the police for their actions.
"Nobody in the car shot nobody," one man told a local news team. "Police do all the shooting."
"None of us had guns. My friend was actually screaming, 'stop shooting, we don't have any guns,' and they just kept firing," another man told a news crew.
The wounded man's brother called for stricter guidelines on when police can open fire.
"They should have certain rules and guidelines that they go by, as far as, you know, just coming and just shooting without saying anything. I mean, come on now, that's just, that's just, that's ludicrous," Issac Williams told the TV station.
Williams' younger brother was shot in the leg. He and his friends had gone out for hamburgers, the TV station reported.
Byoune's family told reporters he was not a gang member and did not have a criminal record. His mother, Jackie Roberts, 55, said her son had never been to jail and was not involved in violence or gangs.
"Right now it's Mother's Day. Last year on Mother's Day he was there for me. Now's he not here and I won't see him no more," she told The Times.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)