Video: LA Deputies Shoot 'Crawling' Man

He's identified as Nicholas Robertson of Lynwood, Calif.
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 13, 2015 1:40 PM CST

Sheriff's deputies shot a man they say had a gun but relatives are questioning the killing after video apparently showed them continuing to shoot as he crawled on the ground. The man, identified Sunday as Nicholas Robertson, 28, of Lynwood, Calif., died at the scene Saturday morning in the south Los Angeles suburb. Two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were called out around 11am by reports of a man walking around and firing a gun into the air, Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez says in a statement. Deputies spotted the man in front of a gas station and ordered him to drop the gun, but he refused, the statement says.

"Witnesses in the immediate area said they saw the suspect turn and point the gun at the deputies prior to the shooting," the statement says. Video, apparently from a cellphone, appeared on several media sites. It appears to show the deputies firing some two dozen bullets, including several rounds after Robertson falls and is crawling on the ground. "They shot him in his shoulder and he was crawling," Pamela Brown, his mother-in-law, tells KTLA. "He left three kids behind, two daughters and a son. What, they could have Tasered him or anything." Sheriff Jim McDonnell promised the investigation would be handled "with the utmost professionalism and integrity" and urged anyone with information to come forward. (More police shooting stories.)

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