LAPD shooting victim believed to be convicted bank robber

As protests over the police shooting of a homeless man in Los Angeles continue, new information on the 39-year-old victim has begun to emerge.
The man is believed to be a French national and a convicted bank robber, according to a report from the LA Times.
His shooting death on Sunday has sparked protests in the city and prompted the police department to release a statement. The incident shines a light on LA's Skid Row neighborhood, home to an estimated 1,700 homeless people, many of whom struggle with mental illness and addiction issues.
Fifteen years ago, the homeless man was convicted with armed robbery at a bank in Thousand Oaks, California. He was sent to federal prison, according to the report, which cites court documents and unnamed officials. He is described as a French national.
The LA Times report names the man as Charley Saturmin Robinet, but he has not yet been formally identified by police. Police Chief Charlie Beck said on Monday that footage from the scene shows the homeless man reaching toward an officer's waistband; the officer's gun was later found partly cocked and jammed with a round of ammunition in the chamber and another in the ejection port, indicating a struggle for the weapon, Beck said.
"You can hear the young officer who was primarily engaged in the confrontation saying that 'He has my gun. He has my gun,'" Beck added. "He says it several times, with conviction." Both this young officer and the victim are black, police said.
The three other officers then opened fire.
The shooting was captured on video by several witnesses, drawing immediate attention to the shooting after the clips were published on Facebook pages and widely circulated. The original video was taken down after just more than a day.


A protest against police brutality was held in the city on Tuesday. There was a moment of silence, and one of the participants, Patrisse Cullors, declared the shooting site to be "sacred ground."
A group of a few dozen people marched toward the downtown police administration building where the city police commission panel was holding a meeting. Protesters also gathered at the headquarters of the LAPD, where they staged a symbolic die-in.
Three of the officers involved in the shooting previously underwent special training to deal with the mentally ill and were veterans of patrolling Skid Row. A younger officer, however — who was just short of completing his probationary year on the force — was the one to scream that the man had his gun, triggering the shooting. Police didn't immediately specify how much training that officer had received in dealing with mentally ill people.
"The way you have conversations, the way you offer options, the way that you give some space, the body language that you portray, the way that you escalate, all of that is part of the training," Beck said Monday. "I will make judgment on that when I review the totality of the investigation, but on the face of it, it appears they did try all of that."
The Los Angeles Police Department's inspector general and the city's district attorney are investigating the shooting.
Source