LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Demonstrators were scheduled to gather in front of the South Los Angeles sheriff's station this afternoon to protest this week's fatal shooting of Dijon Kizzee by deputies in the Westmont area.
The protest at 1310 W. Imperial Highway is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., according to Black Lives Matter Los Angeles.
A post on BLMLA's Twitter account calls on protesters to “bring your bikes, roller skates, skateboards and energy.” It also asks demonstrators to wear masks.
Kizzee was fatally shot at 3:15 p.m. Monday during a confrontation with deputies near West 109th Place and South Budlong Avenue.
Sheriff's officials said Kizzee was riding a bicycle in the area and deputies stopped him for an unspecified vehicle code violation. After he was stopped, Kizzee allegedly tried to run away, according to the sheriff's department.
“Our suspect was holding some items of clothing in his hands, punched one of the officers in the face and dropped items in his hands,” Lt. Brandon Dean said.
“The deputies noticed that inside the clothing items that he dropped was a black, semiautomatic handgun, at which time a deputy-involved-shooting occurred.”
Why Kizzee was shot even though he was not holding the weapon was not clear, although the sheriff's department has said he “made a motion toward the firearm.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Kizzee's family, says the victim was shot in the back more than 20 times, although there's been no confirmation of the number of shots fired.
Sources told the Los Angeles Times the deputies involved in the shooting were a trainee and his supervising officer.
The deputies who shot Kizzee were removed from the field pending a review, as is standard procedure, the sheriff's department announced Tuesday night.
Ron Hernandez, president of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, the union representing the department's deputies, said that “as always, we look forward to a fair review of the circumstances regarding this unfortunate incident.”
Sheriff's deputies have not begun wearing body cameras. So, Crump urged anyone with video footage of the confrontation to come forward. Some doorbell footage capturing the shots being fired was released Tuesday.
The shooting prompted protest demonstrations Monday night and Tuesday night, and activists demanded that the deputies involved in the shooting be arrested and prosecuted.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva, speaking at the Board of Supervisors' meeting Tuesday, did not discuss details of the shooting but offered his condolences to Kizzee's relatives.