Three Watts' police officers fatally shoot 56 year-old woman
Unconfirmed reports state that Williams was deaf and could not hear the officers' commands
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Authorities today identified a woman fatally shot by three Los Angeles police officers in Watts when she allegedly refused to drop a handgun that she was pointing at a neighbor.
Brenda Williams, 56, was shot about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 10000 block of Anzac Avenue, the Los Angeles Police Department reported. She died at the scene.
The shooting was one of three involving LAPD officers on Wednesday—two of them in Watts and one of them in Panorama City.
In the Williams shooting, officers were sent to the location in response to a report that a woman had fired shots at her daughter and two grandchildren, police said. Williams was sitting on the porch of her home when officers arrived.
"The officers drove down the street toward the location of the suspect,'' police said. "The officers took a position across from the suspect and told her to drop her gun. The officers then saw the suspect point her weapon at a neighbor across the street. Three officers fired their weapons at
the suspect, striking her multiple times in the upper torso.''
Paramedics pronounced Williams dead at the scene. A loaded .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun was recovered at the scene, police said. Police could not confirm broadcast reports that Williams was deaf and could not hear the officers' commands.
The other officer-involved shootings on Wednesday: At about 8:25 a.m., Jose Solario, 46, was fatally shot when he allegedly pointed a shotgun at officers in his residence in the 1700 block of East 115th Street in Watts.
And about 11 p.m., an officer shot and wounded a man who allegedly pointed a handgun at officers investigating a report of a shooting a few hours earlier in the 8500 block of Cedros Avenue in Panorama City.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The 67-year-old owner of an Inglewood night club was shot to death early today while sitting in his car—reportedly a white $300,000 Rolls Royce—outside his home in the Crenshaw District.
The shooting occurred around 2:30 a.m. in the 4200 block of Hillcrest Drive, said Officer Lyle Knight of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations office. The man died at a hospital, said assistant chief Ed Winter of the coroner's office.
A memorial service will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at House of Winston Mortuary, 9501 S. Vermont Ave. for Brenda Williams, 56, a deaf and partially blind Watts grandmother who was gunned down in a controversial shooting by the Los Angeles Police Department Wednesday April 27.
PALMDALE, Calif.—The man who was fatally shot after allegedly taking a gun from a sheriff's deputy in Palmdale was identified today by authorities.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Members of various civil-rights and community groups plan to hold a rally and march in downtown Los Angeles today demanding justice for Trayvon Martin, who was fatally shot in Florida by a neighborhood watch captain who has not been arrested.
Marchers will gather at 4 p.m. at Pershing Square, at Fifth and Hill streets, and begin walking to City Hall at 6 p.m. for a rally on the west side of the building at First and Spring streets, according to the ANSWER Los Angeles Coalition.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles City Council approved a $75,000 reward today for information leading to the conviction of whoever fired the shot that killed a 22-month-old boy in the arms of his uncle, who was critically wounded.
Joshua Montes and uncle Josefat Canchola were on a porch facing a backyard in the 1200 block of East 55th Street about 8:30 p.m. Monday when they were shot, police Capt. Mark Olvera said. Both suffered head wounds.
The shots were fired from the east side of Hoover Street, about 40 yards away, police said.
