Family of man fatally shot by LAPD files wrongful-death lawsuit against L.A. and police officers
The family of the man who was fatally shot by LAPD officers Wednesday night filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, saying he would have survived if he had been arrested, or if an ambulance had taken him to an emergency room.
As a result, four officers involved in the shooting are expected to be disciplined, Police Chief Charlie Beck said.
“This was a highly unfortunate death from an officer-involved shooting,” Beck said at a news conference that followed the fatal shooting in the Lake View Terrace neighborhood of West Hollywood.
The chief said it’s still not known what led to the shooting, but that he would not release what the officers had been searching for after the shooting.
The shooting occurred shortly after 11:30 p.m. in the 600 block of North Westwood Street, where the man, identified by police as 34-year-old Juan Carlos Gamboa, had been riding a bicycle.
The officers were investigating a reported burglary, and came across Gamboa, who was alone and riding a bicycle on the West Hollywood streets.
“At this point we’re still trying to learn what happened with what the officers had been doing when they went on to the scene,” Beck said.
A man who said he was Gamboa’s neighbor said he heard a commotion and watched as a man walked onto the street and sat down on the sidewalk, apparently speaking in a loud voice.
“When police approached the subject and he started to make a motion toward them, that’s when he was fatally shot,” the neighbor, who only gave his name as David, told the Los Angeles Times.
He said he told police it was Gamboa, but they did not believe him. Police said they were searching the area for someone, but did not describe what had been searched for. They reported finding a BB gun, but could not confirm that Gamboa had a weapon, Beck said.
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