LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners today faulted two officers who opened fire on a knife-wielding man at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall nearly a year ago, ruling that at least one bullet fired by each of them in the fatal shooting was out of department policy.
Grechario Mack, 30, of Los Angeles, died at the scene of the April 10 shooting at the mall at Martin Luther King Jr. and Crenshaw boulevards.
Although LAPD Chief Michel Moore wrote in a report that be believed all of the shots fired were fully within policy, the commissioners voted unanimously that the last of five shots fired by a sergeant was a lethal use of force out of policy, and voted 3-2 that the last of nine shots fired by an officer was out of policy.
Mack's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city in January.
LAPD officials previously identified the personnel involved in the shooting as Sgt. Ryan Lee and Officer Martin Robles of the LAPD's Southwest Division, although the version of Moore's report released to the public had all of the names redacted.
Officers were sent to the scene on a report of a man brandishing a large knife, according to Moore's report. Mack did not respond to commands to drop the knife, and officers feared he presented a threat to them and the mall's patrons before they opened fire on him, the report says.
According to Moore's report, the final shots came after initial rounds struck Mack and he fell to the ground but was trying to get back up.
The commission's ruling is only an advisory to Moore, who will determine discipline for the officers involved in the shooting.