LAPD Kills Unarmed Black Man "Ezell Ford" Yesterday! [Photos] :ANOTHER EXECUTION

LOS ANGELES -- An eyewitness to the killing of Ezell 

Ford told The Huffington Post on Wednesday that he heard 

an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department shout 

"shoot him" before three bullets were unloaded into the 

unarmed, 25-year-old black man, who was on the ground.

"It is unknown if the suspect has any gang affiliations," the 

LAPD said in a statement after the killing.

But people in Ford's neighborhood said the young man was 

not remotely involved in gang activity. Leroy Hill said he 

was an eyewitness to the shooting Monday night, and 

confirmed that he heard three shots. He wasn't a gang 

banger at all," Hill said. "I was sitting across the street when 

it happened. So as he was walking down the street, the 

police approached him, whatever was said I couldn't hear it, 

but the cops jumped out of the car and rushed him over here 

into this corner.

They had him in the corner and were beating him, busted 

him up, for what reason I don't know he didn't do nothing. 

The next thing I know I hear a 'pow!' while he's on the 

ground. They got the knee on him. And then I hear another 

'pow!' No hesitation. And then I hear another 'pow!' Three 

times."

At one point while the police had Ford on the ground, but 

before the shooting took place, Hill said, he heard an officer 

yell, "Shoot him."

Monday around 8:20 p.m., police conducted an 

"investigative stop" in the 200 block of West 65th Street in 

the Newton area of South LA, according to an LAPD news 

release. "During the stop a struggle ensued, which resulted 

in an officer-involved-shooting," the release says. "The 

suspect was transported to a local hospital and after 

lifesaving efforts he succumbed to his injuries."

A woman who identified herself as the deceased man's 

mother called KTLA and identified the man as Ezell Ford. 

However, as of Wednesday afternoon, the LAPD had not 

confirmed the identity of the "suspect." Tritobia Ford said 

her son was lying on the ground and complying with 

officers when he was shot three times.

The shooting comes just days after the death of 18-year-old 

Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was fatally 

shot by a police officer in the St. Louis suburb on Saturday. 

He was unarmed. Dorian Johnson, who was walking with 

Brown before the shooting occurred, said Brown was 

retreating from the officer with his hands up when he was 

shot, CNN reported. Ferguson police, however, say a 

"physical confrontation" occurred before that.

Unrest has rocked the suburb in the days following Brown's 

death. At least four people, including two police officers, 

have been hurt and 47 arrested in the aftermath of the 

shooting, according to St. Louis' KMOV.

On Wednesday morning in South LA, a group of about 10 

young and middle-aged men gathered at a makeshift 

sidewalk memorial lined with candles and signs that read 

"Police brutality must stop."

The men at the memorial near the sight of the shooting were 

visibly shaken by the events that had unfolded there 

Monday night. They expressed anger toward the LAPD. 

They said that Ford wasn't a gang member at all -- that he 

was a "good guy," a local man who was born and raised in 

the neighborhood, one whom everyone knew and liked, 

who routinely played basketball and who also suffered from 

some form of mental illness.

While all of the men said Ford suffered from some mental 

illness, they couldn't confirm what it was. One young 

neighbor , who requested to not be identified, said that 

while "he wasn't all there, he was there enough to follow 

orders and know to stop when the police tell him to stop. He 

did nothing wrong."

Another eyewitness told KTLA that Ford's mental state was 

well-known in the neighborhood and to the police.

"They laid him out and for whatever reason, they shot him 

in the back, knowing mentally, he has complications. Every 

officer in this area, from the Newton Division, knows that -- 

that this child has mental problems," the man said in an 

interview with the local network.

"The excessive force ... there was no purpose for it. The 

multiple shooting in the back while he's laying down? No. 

Then when the mom comes, they don't try to console her ... 

they pull the billy clubs out."

The young neighbor described the incident as "racial 

bullshit." All of the men at the memorial told HuffPost that 

police routinely patrol their neighborhood, a gesture that, 

they said, feels aggressive as opposed to an act of peace-

keeping. During the brief 10 minutes HuffPost was at the 

scene, two squad cars were observed driving by the main 

intersection of South Broadway and West 65th Street.

A middle-aged neighbor took the allegations of aggressive 

police officers a step further, saying that the same officers 

who were involved in the incident on Monday night had 

come through the neighborhood the day before and harassed 

Ford. He also alleged that wasn't the first time the police 

had "targeted" Ford and harassed him while he walked 

down the street.

"The day before they were messing with him and they came 

back the next day and made good on it," the neighbor said.

No officers were injured during the incident, according to 

the LAPD. The Force Investigation Division is set to  investigate.

When reached by HuffPost, the LAPD declined to comment 

on the allegations because there is an ongoing and active 

investigation. "When new information becomes available, it 

will be released," Officer Bruce Borihanh told HuffPost.

UPDATE: 8 p.m. -- LAPD issued a statement that describes 

what happened:

"When the officers got closer and attempted to stop the 

individual, the individual turned, grabbed one of the 

officers, and a struggle ensued. During the struggle, they 

fell to the ground and the individual attempted to remove 

the officer's handgun from its holster. The partner officer 

then fired his handgun and the officer on the ground fired 

his backup weapon at the individual.

"After the officers fired their handguns at the individual, 

they were able to handcuff him and call for a rescue 

ambulance. Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics 

arrived and transported the individual to the hospital where 

he was later pronounced dead.