Probe Underway After Deadly Police Shooting In Hollywood

12/7/2014

HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA.com) — A police shooting is under scrutiny Saturday, a day after officers fatally shot a man they say was armed with a knife.

Hundreds of protesters in an already scheduled march against police brutality staged a die-in at the iconic corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, where a man was fatally shot by police.

Cellphone video captured the aftermath of the incident, which unfolded Friday night about 7 p.m. after officers said they responded to an “assault with a deadly weapon” in-progress call.

The Los Angeles Police Department says the man did not comply with officers’ orders to “get down.”

“When they told him to get down and comply, he did not at all,” said Bruce Cherry, one of hundreds of witnesses.

Cherry said the suspect initially had his hands outside of his pockets.

“When they ran up on him, he went inside of his pockets and stuck both of his hands inside of his pockets and then that’s when they pulled out on him,” Cherry said. “That’s when the shots rang out.”

The suspect was transported to the hospital, where he died.

No officers were hurt.

Henry Hodge, another witness, described the incident to CBS2’s Laurie Perez as “quite a shocking thing to see.”

Hodge watched and took dozens of pictures from the window of a hostel across the street.

“You kind of only see the stuff on movies and to see that happen in real-life is completely different,” he said.

The LAPD Force Investigation Division is looking into the incident but would not release information Saturday about the officers involved.

Meanwhile, the Coroner’s office told CBS2 the suspect killed has been identified; however, his name has not been released.

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