The California Department of Justice investigates a fatal shooting by Los Angeles Police Department officials under a law that forces the state attorney general to investigate shootings of unarmed people despite the LAPD saying the man killed Tuesday had a gun.
At 10pm Tuesday, officers responded to a reported shooting at an apartment in the 1000 block of Ardmore Avenue in Koreatown, LAPD officials said in an unsigned statement.
Once they entered the building, Ronald Gayner Jr. left the apartment with his handgun, and officials said. The officer fired at Gaynor, and Gaynor retreated to his apartment.
According to LAPD, officers entered the unit and took Gaynor into custody. Gaynor, 35, passed away in the hospital, according to the office of the LA County Medical Examiner.
Officials found the handgun and found the cartridge casing “on the scene,” LAPD said, along with a second gun and ammunition inside the apartment.
Gaynor was involved in a “domestic violence incident” with his girlfriend earlier that night, according to a police statement. After she escaped, Gayner was allegedly fired a gun into the air and into the building, prompting a response by the officers who shot him, LAPD said.
The LAPD’s military investigation department had already investigated the shooting during California Atty on Wednesday. General Rob Bonta announced that he is also investigating his office.
In a news release, Bonta cited Congressional Bill 1506. This is needed by the state Department of Justice to investigate police shootings of unarmed people.
Bonta spokesperson Alexandra Duquet said state prosecutors will investigate if it is not immediately clear whether the person killed is in control of the weapon.
AB 1506 defines “ownership” of weapons as “under civilian control and control at the time of shooting.”
Agents from the Department of Justice’s Law Enforcement Division will conduct separate investigations from LAPD and present their findings to the prosecutors in Bonta’s office who will decide whether to file a criminal charge.
If no lawsuit has been filed, state prosecutors should publish a report detailing evidence and legal inferences as to why the charges are not justified.
