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UPDATED, Monday, March 2, 2015, 8:16 a.m. EST –

The Los Angeles Police Department has released a statement in the shooting death of a man in the city’s Skid Row section, which Buzzfeed has posted. It reads, in part:

At approximately noon today, a private citizen placed a 9-1-1 emergency call to report a robbery near 545 South San Pedro Street in downtown Los Angeles. LAPD Communications Division subsequently dispatched Central Area officers to the location who located the suspect and attempted to contact him. After making contact, however, the suspect began fighting and physically resisting the officers attempts to take him into custody.

The officers attempted to use a TASER to subdue him but the suspect continued to fight and resist the officers and fell to the ground. While on the ground, the suspect and officers struggled over one of the officer’s handguns and then an officer-involved shooting occurred. Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded and pronounced the suspect deceased at the scene.

LAFD paramedics then transported the suspect’s body to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Officer. Two of the responding officers involved in the incident suffered minor injuries and were treated and released.

Neither the suspect nor the victims are identified by name in the press release.

LAPD Investigation on highland and hollywood boulevard

(Photo by Francine Orr/Getty Images)

Earlier:

Thank goodness for citizen journalists who are increasingly catching police misconduct (and what some might consider murder) on cell phones.

Earlier this afternoon, LAPD officers responded to a call about an altercation in downtown L.A., in the area known as “skid row.” One of the suspects – a homeless man – resisted arrest, however the officers were able to gain control and eventually subdued the suspect down on the ground.

Soon after, one police officer took it upon himself to shoot the suspect, not once, but five times. According to reports, the man died.

It was all caught on a disturbing video that you can watch by clicking here. 

You can clearly see the officer pointing his gun at the suspect around the 0:26 mark. Warning, the video is graphic, with profane language.

According to the Los Angeles Times, some have identified the dead man as “Africa.”

The LA Times reports:

Police responded to a call about an altercation between two people at San Pedro and 5th streets about 11:30 a.m., said Officer Jack Richter.

After police arrived, “an officer-involved shooting occurred,” he said.

The identity of the person who was shot was not immediately released.

No officers were injured during the incident and no other details were immediately available, Richter said.

The Times reports that there were conflicting accounts of what happened, with some witnesses saying that the man who was killed reached for an officer’s weapon.

Developing… 

UPDATED: LAPD Shoots Homeless Man Dead In Downtown L.A. [VIDEO]  was originally published on globalgrind.com