SOUTH LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating a deadly officer-involved shooting in South Los Angeles that came at the end of a vehicle pursuit, authorities said.
The shooting was reported at about 1 p.m. Saturday in the area of 107th Street and Western Avenue, said LAPD Officer Drake Madison of the Media Relations Section.
The car chase began when police said they saw paper plates on a car that came back reported stolen.
Reporting for CBS2 News at 5 p.m., Jeff Nguyen said police had not yet officially identified the deceased
By 8 p.m., a woman who said she was the deceased’s mother cried in pain.
“Please let me see my baby. If that’s my baby, please let me see him,” said Monique Morgan.
She identified her son as 18-year-old Carnell Snell.
Police said the man they shot was one of three people in the stolen vehicle. Snell was a passenger. Police said the driver and another passenger fled and are still at large.
At the end of the chase, police and witnesses said the deceased was running from the location through back yards.
A large gathering of police near the scene of the shooting could be seen in photos posted to social media.
Nguyen said some of the people, stricken with grief, were even unable to stand.
Witnesses told him the man — believed to be Snell — was running with his hands up, and said he was telling officers he was unarmed, when police shot him about five times.
“We seen the little boy running, with the blue shirt on,” said one woman, “I seen him running with his hands up. Like ‘Don’t shoot me.'”
Police said they recovered a weapon at the scene.
Snell’s mother isn’t willing to accept that.
“The police shot him five times in the back,” she said.