Angry demonstrators poured into the streets of a South Los Angeles neighborhood Sunday night, the second night of protests over the fatal shooting of an armed 18-year-old man.
(LATimes)- The rowdy crowd shut down traffic at 108th Street and Western Avenue, where at one point a white sports car was seen doing donuts in the street as police and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies stood by. Some protesters harassed news reporters and vandalized local businesses, scrawling graffiti on storefronts.
Demonstrators protested the killing of citizens by law enforcement, chanting and carrying signs. One sign stated: “Jail killer cops!”
The protest appeared to stem from a vigil held earlier in the evening for Carnell Snell Jr., who was shot Saturday afternoon by police outside his home near 107th Street and Western Avenue. Police said he bailed out of a vehicle being pursued by LAPD officers and ran away on foot. He was armed with a gun, which was later recovered at the scene, police said.
The crowd dwindled as the night wore on. LAPD officers in riot gear eventually swarmed to move about a dozen people away from 107th Street and Western Avenue and told them to leave or face arrest.
By 11 p.m., officers had arrested four people on suspicion of failing to disperse, LAPD Cmdr. Dennis Kato said. Snell’s family members later told police that some of the people at the protest were not from the neighborhood, Kato said.
Police continued urging people to disperse from the area as they walked down 107th Street, near where Snell was killed. At the makeshift candlelight memorial for Snell, police spoke with demonstrators and eventually turned around to leave the area.
(Photo Credit: LATimes)