A handgun that was recovered following the officer involved shooting in Berkeley, Missouri, is pictured in this undated handout photo provided by the St. Louis County Police. A white policeman shot dead a black man brandishing a pistol at a suburban St. L
A handgun that was recovered following the officer involved shooting in Berkeley, Missouri, is pictured in this undated handout photo provided by the St. Louis County Police. Reuters/St. Louis County Police/Handout

The homeless man shot by a Los Angeles District Police cop did not reach for the officer's gun, which is contrary to what the officer claimed, according to eyewitness Anthony Blackburn, who filmed the incident. The scene took place near the Union Rescue Mission in Skid Row on March 1, Sunday.

According to Anthony Blackburn, four LAPD officers were unable to subdue the homeless man so they shot and killed him instead. He told CNN’s Sara Sidner that the man was “already on the ground,” so he was perplexed why they did not simply shoot him in the leg.

Blackburn told Sidner that he was about 20 feet away when the LAPD shooting took place. He said he started filming the incident when the police threatened to use their Tasers on the homeless man, who he said ended up flailing from being hit repeatedly with stun guns.

On the other hand, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck defended the officers’ decision to shoot the homeless man, saying they took reasonable steps to avoid it but the man grabbed the pistol of one of the officers.

The video of the LAPD shooting of a homeless man was posted by Blackburn on Facebook, which went virall however, it was later taken down. Watch Blackburn’s interview with Sidner here:

Credits: YouTube/CNN

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