Man Points Gun at Officers NR13497ne

UPDATE

Updated:  The officers involved in the below incident have been identified as Police Officer III Dean Thompson and Police Officer I Ngoc Huynh.

Los Angeles:  On October 26, 2013, around 10:40 a.m., Southeast Area patrol officers were working a crime suppression detail within the Nickerson Gardens Housing development as a result of recent gang shootings in the area.  The officers were traveling north on Parmelee Avenue approaching East 112th Street when citizens directed them to 1134 East 111th Place where they observed the suspect, later identified as Tajuan Balckwell, engaged in a verbal dispute with two women, one of whom was holding a young child.  As the officers approached they saw that Blackwell was holding a handgun.  As the officers exited their police vehicle, Blackwell looked in their direction and immediately ran into an apartment.  One officer ran around the building and saw Blackwell running eastbound from the rear door of the apartment.  The officer ordered Blackwell to stop and drop the gun, Blackwell turned toward the officer at which time an officer involved shooting occurred.  Blackwell appeared unaffected by the gunfire and continued to flee through the housing development.  Officers broadcast that they were in foot pursuit and followed Blackwell to the area of 11200 South Success Avenue where he stopped running and was taken into custody without further incident.

Blackwell was not struck by the gunfire and no officers were injured.  A loaded semi-automatic handgun was recovered from the roof of one of the apartment buildings along the foot pursuit route where Blackwell was seen to have thrown it.  The investigation further determined that Blackwell had pointed the handgun at the woman who was holding the one year old child during a domestic dispute prior to the arrival of the officers.

Force Investigation Division responded to the incident and will conduct a thorough investigation of the officer-involved shooting.

The investigation will ultimately be reviewed by the Chief of Police, the Office of the Inspector General and Board of Police Commissioners for compliance with the Department’s use-of-force policy, which states that an officer’s use-of-force actions must be objectively reasonable.

Additionally, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division will conduct a comprehensive review of the facts of the officer-involved shooting.
 
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call Force Investigation Division at 213-486-5230. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247).  Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477). Tipsters may also contact Crime Stoppers by texting to phone number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) with a cell phone.  All text messages should begin with the letters “LAPD.† Tipsters may also go to www.LAPDOnline.org, click on “webtips” and follow the prompts.