This undated photo provided by Louana D’Cunha shows Kenneth French. French, fatally shot in a Southern California Costco store, was mentally ill and off his medication when he pushed or slapped an off-duty police officer who opened fire and killed the man and critically wounded the man s parents, the lawyer for the man s family said Tuesday, June 18, 2019. (Louana D’Cunha via AP)LOS ANGELES (AP) – A man fatally shot in a Southern California Costco store was mentally ill and off his medication when he pushed or slapped an off-duty police officer who opened fire and killed the man and critically wounded the man’s parents, the lawyer for the man’s family said Tuesday.
Attorney Dale Galipo said he didn’t know if there was any exchange between the officer and Kenneth French before the violence at the store in Corona, east of Los Angeles. Corona police have said French “attacked” the officer “without provocation” but Galipo said that overstated what French did.
“I would hardly characterize it as an attack,” Galipo told The Associated Press, describing it as an “open-handed push or slap” to the policeman’s back. “It certainly does not justify killing someone.”
The officer’s attorney, David Winslow, told the AP on Monday that the officer was holding his 1-year-old son when French knocked him to the ground and he briefly lost consciousness.
“It wasn’t an innocent push,” Winslow said Tuesday.