Deputy Shooting Of South LA Black Man Triggers Protests

LOS ANGELES, CA —The fatal police shooting of a Black man in South Los Angeles Monday triggered immediate backlash and set off series of protests expected to continue Tuesday.

Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies shot and killed a Black cyclist they had attempted to stop for a code violation. The man, identified by family members as 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee, allegedly fled, punched a deputy and dropped a gun with a bundle of clothing he was carrying, according to the sheriff's department. The shooting comes at a time of tension between the department and the community. In June, a deputy shot 18-year-old Andres Guardado in Gardena, triggering weeks of demonstrations with protestors going to the deputy's home as well as a split between the department and county leaders over the investigation into that shooting.

Within hours of the Monday's police killing, neighbors and Black Lives Matters activist had gathered at the scene and held a demonstration outside the sheriff's station at 1310 W. Imperial Highway. Sheriff's deputies stood watch lined up outside the building as the crowd chanted derogatory, anti-law enforcement slogans. At least one protester vandalized and sprayed graffiti on the sheriff's sign outside the building before leaving the area around 1 a.m. when authorities declared an unlawful assembly.

The shooting occurred about 3:15 p.m. Monday near West 109th Place and South Budlong Avenue, according to sheriff's Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez.

Kizzee had been riding a bicycle when deputies attempted to stop him for code violations, Navarro-Suarez said. He left his bicycle and ran away but deputies caught up to him and a fight ensued.

"Immediately upon making contact with our suspect, our suspect was holding some items of clothing in his hands, punched one of the officers in the face and then dropped the items in his hands," sheriff's Lt. Brandon Dean told reporters.

"The deputies noticed that inside the clothing items he dropped was a black semi-automatic handgun, at which time a deputy-involved shooting occurred. He was in possession of a firearm and did assault a deputy."

Two deputies opened fire and shot him several times, Navarro said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Graphic video posted social media appears to capture the foot chase and the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

No deputies were injured.

Video from the scene showed a gun near Kizzee's body.

Black Lives Matter Los Angeles called supporters to the scene to protest the killing.

"Los Angeles County Sheriffs killed a Black man...Dijon...on 109th and Budlong and left his body face down in the dirt. We need all hands on deck," Black Lives Matter Los Angeles tweeted.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump -- most recently noted for representing the family of Jacob Blake, who was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, setting off a renewed round of national protests -- was retained by the family of the man who was shot, Dijon Kizzee.

"Dijon Kizzee, a 29yo Black man, was fatally shot by (sheriffs') deputies," Crump posted on his Twitter page Tuesday morning. "Cops stopped him while riding his bike for alleged `vehicle code violation.' They say he ran, dropped clothes and handgun. He didn't pick it up, but cops shot him in the back 20+ times then left him for hours."

Crump noted that sheriff's deputies do not wear body cameras, so he urged anyone with video footage of the confrontation to come forward.

Meanwhile, community activists demanded that the deputies involved in the shooting be arrested and prosecuted.

Activist Najee Ali said Kizzee was shot while "running away."

"The police will tell you that he was stopped for a traffic vehicle code. What they won't tell you -- he was on a bicycle minding his own business. Once again this is another case of harassment by sheriff's deputies of Black and Brown men in their own neighborhood. He was stopped for riding his bicycle. So at the end of the day, here we go again. Here we go again."

A response was not immediately available from the sheriff's department regarding Black Lives Matter's allegation that the victim was left "face down in the dirt," but Navarro-Suarez said it would be part of the investigation.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, relatives and activists conceded that Kizzee was carrying a weapon, but insisted he wasn't wielding it, didn't reach for it on the ground and was unarmed when he was shot.

"Why us?" his aunt, Fletcher Fair, told reporters. "... It's just us, and we're tired. We are absolutely tired."

Sheriff Alex Villanueva, speaking at a Board of Supervisors' meeting Tuesday morning, did not discuss details of the shooting, but offered his condolences to the man's relatives.

"I want to extend my condolences to the family of Dijon Kizzee, who succumbed yesterday to a deputy-involved shooting," he said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family, and that includes a member of my own department who is a cousin of the deceased."

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City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.