Breaking News(Photo: Tory Hargro, USA TODAY)



LOS ANGELES -- A man was shot dead while struggling with police officers on a sidewalk in the city's Skid Row area Sunday, police said.


Los Angeles Police spokesman Sgt. Barry Montgomery said officers were responding to a robbery call when they struggled with the suspect. He said officers first used a stun gun before shooting him. The man, whose identity was not released, was declared dead at a hospital.


A bystander's cellphone video was posted online to a Facebook account. It shows several officers attempting to take the man into custody shortly before noon, KNBC-TV reported on its website, NBCLosAngeles.com.


Los Angeles Times reported the man appeared to scuffle with four officers even after he was wrestled to the ground. It said one officer can be heard on the video saying, "Drop the gun. Drop the gun.'' At least five gunshots could be heard.


The Times quoted several eyewitnesses including Dennis Horne, 29, who said the suspect had been fighting with someone in his tent along the sidewalk, and that when he refused to comply with a police order to come out of the tent, officers used a Taser stun gun and pulled him from the tent. He continued to fight while on the ground, Horne told the newspaper.


Another witness, Jose Gil, 38 , said he saw the man swinging at police and heard one of the officers say, "Gun, gun, he's got my gun" before police fired multiple shots.


Homeless people are allowed to have tents on certain downtown streets during evening hours but are supposed to remove them during the day.


Police Commission President Steve Soboroff said the department, its independent inspector general and the district attorney's office would investigate, the Times reported.


Contributing: Associated Press


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