Video: L.A. Cops Shoot a Guy Point-Blank Outside a Carl's Jr.
Police officers in Monterey Park, Calif., shot and killed a man in the parking lot of a Carl's Jr. yesterday morning, and witnesses caught it on video. According to the New York Daily News, the man, who was wearing a dark hoodie, was breaking windows inside the restaurant. The video shows him coming out into the parking lot carrying what looks like a shovel or large hammer. The cops appear to taser him, which has no effect. When he seems to rear up to swing the object in his hand—but before swinging it—the two officers fire off ten shots.
Five were fired while he was standing, and five after he appeared to fall to the ground (the actual shooting is obscured in the video by a parked car). According to the Daily News, five of the bullets struck the victim, who was pronounced dead later at a local hospital.
The people who recorded the video seemed to get a kick out of the whole thing: "He lit that motherfucker!" says one. "Dude, he shot him so many times," said another, laughing.
[Update: This post originally said L.A. County Sheriff's deputies did the shooting; it was in fact Monterey Park police officers. The L.A. County Sheriff's department has taken over the investigation.]