United States police kills homeless man

This video from the USA says about itself:

Graphic video shows LAPD shooting a homeless man

1 March 2015

Breaking: Graphic video recorded by uploaded to Facebook just hours ago shows LAPD shooting a homeless man.

It is currently unknown why officers engaged with the victim or his current condition. Details are few, but we are presenting it for your judgment and will update when they are available.

From Quartz in the USA:

A fatal police shooting of a homeless man in Los Angeles is caught on video

Police in downtown Los Angeles were caught on video fatally shooting a homeless man on Sunday during his scuffle with several officers. The man, who neighborhood witnesses said was knows as “Africa,” was in a tent on the sidewalk when police arrived, and tasered when he refused to comply with police orders to come out, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In the video, five shots are fired after the officers tackle the man and try to subdue him, at one point yelling at him, “Drop the gun!” … More than 1.8 million people have watched the video in the six hours since it was uploaded to Facebook by a man named Anthony Blackburn.

By Evan Blake in the USA:

Video shows execution-style murder of homeless man by Los Angeles police

2 March 2015

On Sunday March 1, a group of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers shot and killed a homeless man in broad daylight as he was pinned to the ground, according to bystander video posted on Facebook.

The execution-style murder occurred after the unarmed man engaged in a brief scuffle with the large group of police officers on Los Angeles’s skid row. Five gunshots can be heard on the recording after the man has clearly been tackled and subdued by the officers. None of the officers involved were injured in the incident, according to an official police statement.

The shooting prompted an angry response from bystanders, who commented repeatedly that there were no guns present and that the large group of officers had no reason to use lethal force.

Police officers dragged the homeless victim out of his tent after he refused to crawl out himself, Tasing him in the process. Police have refused to release the name of the victim or of the officers involved. Witnesses told reporters that the victim’s name was “Africa,” and that he had been living on skid row for four months after being released from a mental hospital.

Shortly after noon last Sunday raw video appeared on Facebook within minutes after multiple Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers shot and killed an unarmed man on the sidewalk outside the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row, where many of the City’s homeless live in makeshift tents on the street. Within hours, the video had been shared on thousands of Facebook pages and racked up millions of views. While the original Facebook post has been taken down, the video can be seen in its entirety on YouTube: here.

How A Traveling Consultant Helps America Hide The Homeless. “Criminally punishing people for engaging in basic survival activity simply doesn’t work. … In the end, only housing solves homelessness.” By Arthur Delaney: here.

HOW GIVING HOMES TO THE HOMELESSNESS REDUCES HOMELESSNESS “The basic idea is simple. Chronically homeless individuals may require treatment for alcohol or substance abuse, or need mental health care. But maintaining a healthy lifestyle is extremely difficult without the stability of a home. So housing first programs hand over the keys to an apartment first, and then focus on treatment.” [HuffPost]