LA Police Officers Shot Unarmed Homeless Man Named "Africa" In Downtown Skid Row

Video circulating on Facebook and posted on YouTube shows homeless man was unarmed, despite an officer yelling "he got a gun."

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 1, 2015

Los Angeles, California - On Sunday, police around 11:30 a.m. responded to the downtown Los Angeles Skid Row section to investigate an altercation. When they arrived, the officers began to scuffle with a homeless man named "Africa" who was by a sidewalk tent. Four officers are seen trying to control Africa as he began to struggle with them and then they threw him to the ground quickly and were on top of him. 

One officer yelled, "he got a gun, put the gun down" and multiple shots were fired by police. The homeless man was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police claimed that the homeless man grabbed an officers weapon, but according to the video, all the officers had control of their weapons. A homeless woman grabbed a police baton when police scuffled with Africa. She was placed on handcuffs by another officer.

Police continue to investigate the shooting incident to determine, if Africa attempted to grab an officer's gun. Africa had been tased once during the struggle, according to police.

Homeless man shot and killed by LA Police officers: http://youtu.be/wHIFsH_3NfE

Update:

Homeless man named "Africa" was identified by Los Angeles police as Charlie Saturmin Robinete, 39, a French national convicted bank robber who was released from prison after serving 15 years for a Wells Fargo Bank robbery. Robinete was parole in May 2014 and failed to register his whereabouts to a parole officer. A warrant had been issued for his arrest for failure to report to a probation officer, the LA police reported. Police officers at the scene when Robinete was fatally shot multiple times were wearing body cameras and video will be released once the investigation is terminated.