Officer guns down man in 'shooting stance'

The fatal police shooting of a black man who drew something from his pocket and extended his hands in a "shooting stance" happened about a minute after officers in a San Diego suburb arrived where a distraught man was reportedly walking in traffic, a police spokesman said on Wednesday.

It took police more than an hour to respond because of other calls, El Cajon Liutenant Rob Ransweiler said. Officers arrived at a parking lot next to a Mexican fast-food restaurant about 2:10 pm, and Alfred Olango, who was unarmed, was shot about a minute later, police said.

Mayor Bill Wells said he was concerned how quickly the shooting took place, though he said video taken by a bystander was enlightening and he didn't think it was "tremendously complicated to figure out what happened."

Police said the man had refused to comply with instructions to remove a hand from his pants pocket and paced back and forth before rapidly drawing an object from the pocket. The item turned out to be an electronic cigarette device, police said late on Wednesday.

Some protesters said he was shot while his hands were raised in the air, though police disputed that and produced a single frame from the cell phone video to support their account.

The image showed the man in what police called a "shooting stance." His hands were clasped together and he was pointing directly at an officer who had assumed a similar posture a few meters away. That officer fired his handgun and a second officer, farther away, simultaneously fired his electric stun gun, Chief Jeff Davis said.

Wells was asked how he would feel if it was his child that had been shot.

"I saw a man who was distraught, and a man acting like he was in great pain," Wells said. "And I saw him get gunned down and killed. If he was my son, I would be devastated."

Olango came to the US decades ago as a refugee from Uganda.

An attorney for his family said Olango was distraught over the recent death of his best friend and was having an emotional breakdown.

Criminal record

Olango, 38, had a history of run-ins with the law, including selling cocaine, driving drunk and illegally possessing a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun when he was arrested in Colorado in 2005 with marijuana and ecstasy in his car, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in federal court and was sentenced to nearly four years for being a felon in possession of a gun.

The single photo is all police released depicting the incident that sparked angry protests by demonstrators demanding more information and wanting to know how police could shoot an unarmed man.

Olango's relatives demand-ed the full video be released, according to Dan Gilleon, a lawyer who says he is representing the family.

"They're cherry-picking part of the video, "Gilleon said. "This is exactly what police have said is unfair when only portions of video are released against them."

After dark, more than 200 people marched in the streets near the site, yelling "no justice, no peace, no racist police!"

Officers in riot gear, some of them with dogs, faced off with protesters occasionally, but there were no reports of any violence or arrests.

(China Daily 09/30/2016 page12)