LA deputies killed man who held gun as he fell

“Nothing”, Nekesha Robertson’s cousin Monica Reddix told AP.

But the images showing Robertson wielding a gun did little to assuage the fury of family members, who gathered at the Arco gas station where he was killed, embracing and sobbing around a growing collection of candles and kerchiefs.

Katz said the chaotic scene unfolded near a gas station, putting several civilians in danger-including a family of two women and three children who were pumping gas just five feet away.

Nekeisha Robertson, described by relatives as the dead man’s wife, sobbed as Tracey Brown shouted: “He ain’t getting away with it!”

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is asking for any video that witnesses may have of a fatal weekend confrontation in Lynwood between deputies and a 28-year-old black man at whom 33 shots were fired. In this image made from security video footage provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff, Nicholas Robertson is stretched out on the ground with a gun in his hand.

The deputies confronted Robertson as they investigated 911 calls from the witnesses who said a man was walking down a residential street and then through a busy commercial area holding a weapon and acting strangely.

At least one witness told 911 dispatchers Robertson fired six to seven rounds into the air.

A sidewalk memorial is seen for Nicholas Robertson on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015, in Lynwood, Calif. Robertson was fatally shot Saturday by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies in Lynwood, south of Los Angeles.

Following McDonnell’s news conference, Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Project Islamic Hope President Najee Ali and other civil rights leaders demanded a U.S. Justice Department probe into the shooting.

Juan Roberto, 18, said he was sweeping the floor inside the pool and banquet room of Chico’s Pizza parlor, across the street from the site of the shooting, on Saturday morning when a man walked in with a gun. “The suspect did not comply and did not drop the handgun, at which time a deputy-involved shooting occurred”.

The incident was captured on video, which at one point shows the suspect crawling away as the deputies unloaded their guns into him.

In any case, a small protest quickly sprang up near the scene of the incident Saturday, and Robertson’s family is maintaining he was unarmed.

An autopsy is pending. “The gun looked as if it was empty” because the slide, the part of the gun that slides back when fired, appeared to be locked back. He allegedly left the neighborhood after opening fire and began walking, still carrying the weapon, which Katz said was a. 45 caliber semiautomatic handgun. Nekesha said that Robertson was a good father.

Sheriff Jim McDonnell said that he chose to release the surveillance video and photos because of the heated criticism that has been leveled across police across the nation. “We’ve seen that in the last two years or so, the sentiment across America has been critical”, McDonnell said.

“It’s an absolutely justifiable shooting”, said Ken Cooper, a New York-based use of force expert who trains police and has testified for and against officers.

“Anytime you see him, you see him with the children”, she said. “He’d take them to and from school”. She said that Robertson had been arrested before for drinking in the past, and that was the only time he’d ever been jailed. Help them with assignments.

A bystander’s video of the shooting, which went viral Saturday after being shown on television, showed Robertson walking away from the deputies when they opened fire. He’s a daddy – that’s his job.

“The movement indicated that he was motioning in the direction of the sheriff’s deputies”, he said.