The LAPD said that it had no further information. Los Angeles police have started an internal investigation, while Corona police and the Riverside County district attorney's office investigate the shooting separately. Truth will come out! I'm sure this was a misunderstanding that got escalated for no reason!" "This is a family that was unarmed and was just grocery shopping. "I'm posting this picture because the stories on social media have made them out to be the suspects, and the off duty cop the victim," Shureih wrote Sunday. The family is seeking an attorney, said Shureih, who posted a photo of French and his parents on Facebook. He said French's parents, Russell and Paola French, were the others shot and that they were in intensive care Sunday. "He's not the kind to trade words, so I don't believe that a verbal confrontation happened," Shureih said. He declined to give specifics about his mental condition.įrench was "non-violent, non-aggressive, non-verbal," Shureih said, and "he has to be pretty much monitored." Rick Shureih, French's cousin, told the Press-Enterprise in Riverside that French was a "gentle giant" who had mental disabilities. They have not released the names of the officers or those wounded. The officer was the only one who fired shots, striking French and two of his family members, police said.Īuthorities did not respond to requests for more information about what led to the attack and whether anyone but the officer had a weapon. The officer opened fire after Kenneth French, 32, of Riverside, attacked him without provocation as the officer held his young child Friday night, according to police in Corona, about 40 miles east of LA. “The shooter has to feel like they’re about to be attacked and there was no less drastic alternative.LOS ANGELES (AP) - Authorities are poring through video to figure out how a confrontation between an off-duty Los Angeles police officer and a man described by family as mentally disabled ended in a shooting in a Costco store that killed the man and critically wounded his parents. ![]() “The real question will be whether a reasonable person in the situation of the shooter would have believed he was under attack, threatened with death or serious bodily injury,” he said. Off-duty police, like private citizens with firearm permits in California, are also legally allowed to fire their weapon in self-defense in the event of an imminent attack and if there is no ability to retreat from the situation, said Jody Armour, a law professor at USC. ![]() However, experts say it’s fairly common for officers to carry their firearms in public while not working. Other speakers questioned why an officer was carrying a firearm while off-duty in a crowded store. ![]() MORE: WinCo's frozen raspberries from Washington farm recalled Several people who spoke at the Police Commission meeting Tuesday criticized commissioners for remaining silent about the shooting and failing to ask questions.Ĭommissioner Eileen Decker said that “it would be premature and inappropriate to ask questions” because the commission “will be adjudicating” the case in the future. “Additionally, rarely are any officers charged criminally with the shootings of unarmed people.” “This is demonstrated by police departments that often cover for their officers and find shootings to be in policy when civil juries find the same shootings to be excessive and unreasonable, and in violation of the United States Constitution,” he said. Kenneth French was nonverbal and had the mental capacity of a teenager, said his cousinRick Shureih. French had no history of being violent, he said, and his parents are kind and gentle people.Ĭivil rights attorney Dale Galipo, who is representing the French family, said there appears to be unequal treatment of police officers compared with other citizens when deadly force is used. MORE: 2 affordable housing sites being planned in Camarillo areaįamily members of the Frenches are challenging police accounts of the event. Ultimately, the five-person Police Commission will decide whether the officer was justified in the shooting and whether he followed department rules before pulling the trigger. The Riverside County district attorney will decide whether he will face charges. Authorities did not arrest the officer, based on information provided to Corona police by witnesses.
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