Jul 30, 2008 2:13 pm US/Pacific
County To Probe Inglewood PD After Deadly Shooting
INGLEWOOD
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Inglewood residents are outraged at the shooting death of Kevin Wicks by police officer Brian Ragan.
CBS
The Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review will conduct a probe of the Inglewood Police Department after three officer-involved shootings over the past three months.
The Inglewood City Council voted Tuesday night to hire the OIR in response to outrage over the July 21 shooting death of Kevin Wicks, a 19-year employee of the U.S. Postal Service in West Los Angeles.
Wicks, 38, was shot to death by Inglewood police Officer Brian Ragan at about 12:20 a.m. after four officers went to his door in response to a report of an argument involving a man and two women, police said.
Police said Wicks answered the door with a gun in his hand and raised it toward the officers, prompting the gunfire.
But relatives and community activists have decried the shooting, saying officers responded to the wrong apartment in the complex at 124 N. Hillcrest Blvd. They also insisted that Ragan should not have opened fire, and if Wicks was holding a gun, it was likely only for his safety since he lived in a dangerous neighborhood and was responding to a knock on his door around midnight.
Ragan had only recently returned to street duty. The five-year department veteran was placed on leave in May after being involved in a shooting in which a 19-year-old man died at a restaurant near Crenshaw Boulevard and 85th Street.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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