LOS ANGELES (AP) – Police officers who shot and killed men in two separate weekend shootings were justified in their use of deadly force because they feared for their lives, the Los Angeles police chief says.
Carnell Snell, 18, turned toward officers with a gun before he was shot, and the other, a Hispanic man who still hasn’t been identified, pointed a replica that looked like a real gun at police, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said Monday.
The shootings come amid heightened tensions over police actions involving black people and other minorities across the country.
In Snell’s shooting, officers tried to pull over a car he was in Saturday because it had paper plates that didn’t match the year of the vehicle – a possible indication of a stolen car and something commonly seen in drive-by shootings, Beck said.
Snell, seated in the back, looked at officers and then ducked down “as if to hide from them,” Beck said.