Saturday’s fatal shooting of 18-year-old Carnell Snell Jr.—known as CJ—by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department has sparked two days of demonstrations and vigils by community members who viewed the shooting as yet another example of officers too quick to fire on black and Latino men in tense situations.
The protests caused a citywide tactical alert to be called just before 10 p.m. Sunday night. Officers described the original Sunday protests and vigils as “peaceful,” but said that the mood changed when individuals whom they described as “outside agitators” arrived and, according to the police, began jumping on the roofs of cars, and engaging in other forms of vandalism.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announced Monday that Snell was shot and killed after he allegedly turned toward officers with a gun in his hand. According to Beck, a loaded .40 mm handgun was recovered a few feet from Snell’s body. The gun had not been fired. (SEE UPDATE BELOW)
The officers involved were not wearing body cams according to Beck.
The incident began when officers cruising in the area of 108th Street and Western Avenue saw a car they thought might be stolen, and followed the vehicle, which was a light blue Nissan, and appeared to have one passenger, which they now believe was Snell. When Snell and the driver bailed from the car and took off in opposite directions, officers pursued Snell. Various neighbors and Snell’s sister, Trenell Snell, claim to have seen part of the pursuit that led to the shooting, which took in back of a house on 107th Street.
Hot-running emotions over Snell’s death were further stoked by the death of a Latino man shot by officers around 5 p.m. on Sunday, after police responded to a report of a male with a gun near 48th Street and Ascot Avenue. The gun, which the man allegedly pointed at officers, turned out to be an orange-tipped replica, the tip of which had been colored black, according to police accounts.* In the case of the second shooting, officers reportedly did have operational body cameras.
Beck described the investigations of Snell’s death, and that of the man killed in the Sunday shooting, as “fluid and ongoing.”
Reporters and other observers who examined the scene of Snell’s shooting in the backyard of a home in the 1700 block of 107th Street said they observed multiple bullet holes in the side of the house and another hole in an ajacent window.
UPDATE:
Due to conflicting stories about whether or not Carnell Snell was carrying a gun during his run from police, on Tuesday Chief Charlie Beck released a short surveillance video that reportedly depicts Snell a few moments before he was shot. Snell is running in the parking lot of a convince store before disappearing behind the store building. A gun can clearly be seen in his hand. Police can be seen running after Snell after he disappears from view.
After the release of the video, Tuesday morning’s police commission meeting was repeatedly disrupted by upset protester, who shouted that if the LAPD could release this video, they could release others. At the same meeting, commission president Matt Johnson stated that, within two weeks, he will recommend a process for the commission to evaluate the Los Angeles Police Department’s video policy, reported the LA Times’ Kate Mather, who was tweeting from the meeting.
NOTE: LA Times reporters Kate Mather, Cindy Chang, Matt Hamilton and James Queally have been following the situation with multiple stories including those here and here and here.
The photo of Carnell Snell Jr. was acquired from Facebook.
*CORRECTIONS: Monday, 3:50 pm: In an earlier draft we incorrectly wrote that the tip of the replica gun was still orange. It was painted or colored black prior to the time of the shooting.
Monday, 6:40 p.m. We also left out the fact that the allegation that Snell had a gun and, more importantly, that he pointed the gun at police, is just that: an unproven allegation. The oversight has since been corrected.
Community members say “another example of officers firing at Black and Latino men in tense situations” although they conveniently leave out the “armed” part of the incident. Not to worry….I understand the LA Police Commission will soon be adapting a new shooting policy requiring officers to “not fire, unless fired upon”….
I understand the orange tip of the replica firearm in the second shooting was painted black. Please correct me if I am wrong.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Wow, Bandwagon, thank you! That was a bad mistake on my part. My eye skipped over the reference to it being painted black. That is now corrected. Thank you again!
C.
While I usually respect and appreciate Witness LA’s reporting, this article and the comments above take as truth the allegations made by LAPD – including that Carnell Snell was “armed.” In this case, Witness LA also failed to use terms such as “allegedly” or “LAPD claims” to indicate that they are at least open to inquiry. Law enforcement officials regularly release false or flawed information following use of force, and media too often swallow their statements as fact. Weeks or months later when investigations often reveal very different results, the corrections rarely make the front pages or the TV news. Justice – and good reporting – requires that journalists seek statements and investigate leads from all parties – community witnesses, victims’ families and human rights leaders – rather than only reprinting the statements of law enforcement without question. The failure of media and elected officials to adequately challenge, question or investigate law enforcement has contributed to LA’s position as #1 nationally in use of force resulting in homicide, with nearly 700 people killed since 2000! It’s no wonder LA’s Black and Brown communities have little faith in our county’s ability to serve and protect them.
#4 Most community members respect and support Law Enforcement. Have you investigated the number of Brown on Brown or Black on Black crimes. You will be surprised. Also, very few if any officer involved shootings are bad, it only looks that way due to the reporting of the crimes by the media.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Kim, you’re absolutely right. I left out “allegedly”—or words to that same effect—in a couple of crucial places. It’s fixed now.
(This seems to be my day of corrections.) Thanks so much for sending up a flag.
C.
Kim: The same can be said of the Black and Latino communities…where every offender shot by a police officer was unarmed, shot in the back, and had his hands raised. Your comments fail to reflect the false accusations by those communities which are often reported by the media until the “truth” is made known. Remember…BLM was based on a incident which never occurred….other than the suspect robbing a liquor store and trying to kill a cop. How bout some balance in your comments!
Kim, your statistics show 43.75 a year for the last 16 years. How many were unjustified Homicides? Let’s say 3-5% and that would very high. Now let’s look at the “black on black”, “brown on brown” or “black on brown” homicides. Astronomical to say the least. The problem is not the cops my friend. How about having the guts to look at the real Core Issues? Maybe your coalition could actually start doing some good instead of taking the easy way out.
Bandwagon, spot on. Kim managed to hoist herself on her own petard. How many times have BLM agitators walked back offensive and patently false statements in officer involved shootings? My guess is never, but Kim prove me wrong.
Tell you what, Kim, here’s the deal: Journalists like Celeste should use the term “alleged” to qualify all police statements when you and your fellow activists are willing to admit, based on an objective assessment of all available evidence, that Snell WAS armed, not “allegedly.” You want to perpetuate a false narrative, long after facts clearly show the opposite. Just like the shooting in Charlotte, where the family claimed the suspect was holding a book, when in fact he was armed with a gun.
Kim, if you are so interested in youth justice, get your audience to understand their biggest threat by far is their own kind, not the police. Staying in school, obeying the rule of law, and actually doing what cops tell you would have a far greater impact on youth justice than anything your organization can offer.
Kim; The actual number of person killed by police officers in Los Angeles County from 2000-2014 is 589 as reported by your
Coalition and 590 as reported by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office. Not the 700 listed in ur comments nor just in the City of Los Angeles. Plz be more accurate in your comments. Also 27% of those killed by police were black and approx 50% Hispanic.
accurate
EDITOR’S NOTE
About the gun: see update with video above.
C.
LATBG: The Carnell Snell video tape just surfaced. How bout that, he actually did have a gun in his hand. Now all we have to deal with is shooting him in the back with his hands raised.
Kim is just another shrill who has a political agenda of anti-cop, at all costs. And her water is carried by the left wing media elite who will “tell you” what you are to believe. As long as George Soros is writing the checks, hacks like Kim will have a platform.
Police are the “hunted” not the “hunters” Kim, we are well aware of that and Thank God for advances in trauma care, body armor and officer safety awareness or more names would be added to the memorial that none of us want to make and people like you could care less about.
Another black lives matter face plant. Boy, if there was a reason to vote for Trump…..
Kim, you and the liberal media are the biggest part of the problem. I wish there were tangible statistics that could show how many deaths you and the liberal media are actually responsible for.
So, according to @4 Kim, LA (not stated if it is the City of LA or the entire County) is “#1 nationally in use of force resulting in homicide”. Conveniently, the LA Times today posted LAPD’s fatal shooting statistics for the last 10 years and they totaled 193, so it looks like Kim was including all of Los Angeles county. According to the US Census Bureau the estimated population of LA County in July of 2015 was 10.1 million people. At the same time the Census Bureau estimates the population of New York City as 8.55 million.
It appears that LA County is the largest “municipality” in the country. So, it would seem it is only natural that LA County would, unfortunately, lead the nation in this and many other statistic.
As Mark Twain said, “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.”
Nicobar- Wishful thinking.
You just can’t make this stuff up. First the Snell family was demanding transparency, and now Chief Beck is the bad guy for giving them what they wanted. A protestor yesterday dismissed the video, claiming the police are trying to assassinate his character after having assassinated his body.
The release of the video did have the desired effect by taking the wind out of the protestors’ sails.
a few thoughts on the carnell snell jr. incident:
1. by now, the police should know whether the vehicle was stolen or not, the legal owner, etc.
Providing this information, and finding identity of the driver and his relationship to snell can only help us in forming a useful understanding of what happened and why.
2. the amount of time police spent investigating the shooting site before allowing in the media seemed somewhat brief. also, did the police escort the media onto the property or did they trespass or was there an interlude between police leaving and media invited to come in?
3. what is the legal status on use of surveillance video from the retail center?
Do the police get to release it or withhold as they see fit?
what rights does the owner of the private surveillance system which captured the video have in releasing or withholding?
4.the video showing snell in the retail center has been edited.
When snell stops behind the minivan and allegedly handles the gun – the video zooms in on the frame once and then zooms in closer on the next frame.
the video surveillance software probably provides this feature, but it is technically an edit.
the zoom in frames have removed some of the perimeter of the image which the surveillance system has captured and stored in the file.
in the interest of maintaining Beck’s stated policy which values transparency – now that he has provided the public with edited video from the retail center, he should provide the entire source video files in their possession.
5. what is up with allowing recreation of a scene from fast and furious 7 on the public streets at the site of the snell protest?
if the decision was it would be safer under the circumstances to allow hot rodders to break the law, then i want to know that the police identified the vehicles and went afterward to locate and cite their drivers.
6. i’ve read that snell was a nice, polite, pleasant young man. i’ve also read mention that he suffered from mental illness.
both statements can be true.
schizophrenia, which primarily affects males, has a typical onset beginning at around age 18 and can manifest very quickly.
it happened to someone in our family who was a typical well liked middle class suburban high school graduate at age 18 and within 6 months was a volatile aggresive nutcase on a senseless cross county violent crime spree.
he has been institutionalized ever since.
when the surveillance video shows snell stopped behind the minivan apparently peering at something or someone –
what it may actually be showing us is that snell stopped for a moment to look at his own reflection in the vehicle windowglass.
Kim, nor any of these asshole protesters give two shits about the facts. The POTUS, the Democratic nominee for POTUS and the media has given BLM legitimacy thru their willingness to even listen to them. There is nothing legitimate about them, their movement or their “protests”, which often turn into riots.
If the facts mattered to these assholes, they wouldn’t encourage protests before any CREDIBLE information, facts or evidence is known in the officer involved shootings.
The whole BLM movement is premised on a LIE. The Michael Brown shooting was as good as good gets from a legal, moral and ethical standpoint.
The people in positions of authority who lend a sympathetic ear to BLM are more disgusting than the protestors themselves. They know it’s ALL bullshit, but they pander to them for political reasons.
20: Have forgot to take your meds?
#20, you are either a college drop-out who majored in criminal justice, or you are simply delusional. Either way, don’t go away mad, just go away…
21. Your disdain for liberalism and Democrats is duly noted (as always). The group BLM will fizzle out. No problem there. Liberals and Democrats along with your discord will never go away. I’m sure it hasn’t reached the level of you moving to another country.
Thank America for freedom of speech. You’ll probably cringe at this but in the words of Rodney King……Can we all get along? I await your snarky response.
250,000 medical related deaths by doctors last year and police shootings were at 54% white 28% black and 18& hispanic WHATS NOT BEING PERCEIVED HERE!
I would say blacks are getting more consideration than other groups when it comes to fatal police shootings. If they account for 51% of all violent crime, yet are only 28% of fatal police shootings, that shows a degree of deference not accorded to other racial or ethnic groups. This makes the protests all the more curious.
Hey #24 Surprisingly,
Here’s my response. What #26 LATBG said is true. Yet BLM and those lending them a sympathetic ear refuse to accept the facts. They draw political power from their ALL racism ALL the time rhetoric and lies. I guess your stance is that because, as you say, “BLM will fizzle out” you find it distasteful for anyone to criticize them or their sympathizers.
In the meantime, lives are lost and neighborhoods are destroyed because of their bullshit.
I realize it’s getting a little tough for you to get their back, but that’s YOUR CHOICE. If your choice is making you squirm, maybe it’s time for you to reexamine your worldview.
You can “duly note” any fucking thing you want to. In case nobody ever pointed it out to you, “duly noting” something doesn’t make it incorrect. As far as you duly noting that the level hasn’t amounted to me moving to another country……I’m not the one bitching and moaning about how fucked up this country is. That would be your BLM friends. They’re the ones protesting, rioting, tearing shit up, burning shit down, calling for cops to be murdered etc. I noticed you didn’t mention maybe they should consider moving to another country.
There you go sunshine, THAT’S how you make a counter point in a debate. I hope you “duly noted” that.
Snarky enough for you?
Oh Well. Making my point obviously struck a nerve. My BLM statement went way above your head. I do not advocate or agree with BLM period. Funny how you lump Dems, Libs and BLM in the same batch. As previously mentioned, your hatred along with Dems/Libs will never go away. There you go Casper. Intelligent conversation does not require the “F” bomb. Limit your Fox News intake and smoke a Cuban Cigar.
Chances of bring shot by the police:
1. Run with a gun in ur hand. 100%
2. Run without a gun. 50%
4. Walking without a gun. 0%
Surprisingly,
You never made a point, therefore there was no nerve to strike. Yes, it went way above my head. I’m stupid and totally incapable of having an intelligent conversation with someone as intelligent and educated as yourself. . If F bombs offend your delicate sensibilities, maybe it’s time for you to put your big girl panties on. As far as lumping Dems, Libs and BLM in together, you’ll have to live with that. It is what it is, not what you try to make it. Those politicians who lend credibility to the BLM movement are on record as doing so. You can’t get away from that, no matter how hard you try. BHO, HRC and other politicians have said what they have said about BLM. . I know it’s inconvenient for you, but as I stated earlier, that’s your problem. Even as stupid as I am, and intelligent as you are, we both know who those BLM protestors who are acting a fucking fool (oops, your therapist just made another $250) will be voting for come November. It is what it is. Your incredible level of intelligence doesn’t change that, nor does my stupidity.
So what have we learned here?
I’m going with this. Even an ignorant dumbass like myself knows that it isn’t conservatives out there burning cities down, killing cops and continuously bitching about how fucked up (oh the inhumanity of it) this country is. That would be those folks who vote the same way you do.
You should be thanking me. You now have something to laugh about with your fellow members at your next MENSA meeting.
You’re welcome.
The Casper reference was priceless. Kudos.