‘No attempt at de-escalation’: Security footage shows deputies fired at least 18 shots at LA cyclist

SOUTH LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Attorneys for the family of a Black man fatally shot by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies argue the victim was running away when he was killed, and video of the incident indicates more than a dozen shots were fired during the deadly encounter.

Dijon Kizzee, 29, of Lancaster, California, was shot and killed by deputies at around 3:15 p.m. Monday after they attempted to stop him for an unspecified code violation while he rode his bicycle in the South Los Angeles neighborhood of Westmont.

In a virtual news conference, attorney Benjamin Crump said the only crime Kizzee committed was “riding a bicycle while Black.”

“Dijon Kizzee did not deserve to be executed like this in cold blood as he was running away,” he said.

Crump, a civil rights attorney, is also representing the family of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot in the back multiple times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, launching nationwide social justice protests.

Meanwhile, footage obtained by KCAL from the vantage point of multiple residential patios, did not capture the shooting, but at least 18 gunshots can be heard.

“They shot four times initially, where you knew the victim was gone, and then there were 11 more shots that persisted. … You saw, (Kizzee) was like, ‘Hey man, don’t touch me!’ and then it was like boom, boom, boom. There was no attempt at de-escalation,” witness Ricardo Richmond told the TV station.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office announced Thursday that Kizzee died from gunshot wounds and ruled the death a homicide but did not confirm the number of bullets fired or the number of wounds the victim sustained, CNN reported.

Sheriff’s Lt. Brandon Dean told the Los Angeles Times that two deputies observed the man later identified as Kizzee riding his bicycle in violation of vehicle codes. Per his account, deputies attempted to contact Kizzee, who dropped the bicycle and fled on foot. When deputies again tried to make contact, they said Kizzee punched one of them in the face, then dropped a bundle of clothing he had been carrying. The deputies spotted a black, semiautomatic handgun in the dropped bundle and opened fire.

During a Wednesday news briefing, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the use of deadly force is not something law enforcement officers have time to ponder in volatile situations that often escalate quickly.

“Sometimes, that entire process (of trying to detain an armed suspect) is going to unfold in a matter of two or three seconds, so there’s no deliberate choice to playing judge, jury and executioner,” Villanueva said, according to CNN.

“It’s a cute little soundbite people like to say when they don’t like the result of something, but reality is far more complicated than that,” Villanueva added.

According to KCAL, the deputies, whose names have not been released, have been removed from the field pending a review of the incident, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department announced Tuesday.

Cox Media Group