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4:02am August 15, 2014

skrelp:

A police officer shot and killed an unarmed, mentally challenged black man in Los Angeles on Monday, his family said.

Family members identified Ezell Ford, 25, as the man the cop killed on the 200 block of West 65th St. about 8:20 p.m. And one eyewitness says the officer yelled “shoot him” before killing the man in the street.

His mother, Tritobia Ford, said the shooting was unjustified and that her son was complying with the officer’s orders, according to local media.

“My heart is so heavy," she told KTLA. ”My son was a good kid. He didn’t deserve to die the way he did.”

Ford, she said, was lying on the ground when the officer shot him in the back three times.

A man claiming to be Ford’s cousin told the station he witnessed the incident and that there was no justification for excessive force.

"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," he told KTLA.

And another eyewitness told the Huffington Post that an officer screamed out “shoot him” before the unarmed Ford was filled with three slugs.

Source

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