The Los Angeles County coroner’s office will conduct inquests this week into the 2020 fatal shootings of three men by sheriff’s deputies.
Beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday, inquests will be held on consecutive days into the shooting deaths of 47-year-old Dana “Malik” Young Jr., 41-year- old Samuel Herrera Jr. and 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to direct county coroner Dr. Jonathan Lucas to conduct inquests into the 2020 deputy shooting deaths of 47-year-old Dana “Malik” Young Jr., 41-year-old Samuel Herrera Jr. and 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee.
Attorneys for the family of a 29-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in August today announced their plan to file a claim against the county.
These were the local news and stories of 2020
Again blasting the sheriff’s department’s contention that a 29-year-old man was fatally shot while pointing a gun at deputies in Westmont, attorneys for the man’s family said today an independent autopsy shows he was shot repeatedly while “writhing on the ground in pain.”
I have written about and discussed the notion that it takes just one person to misuse the law for public trust to erode and just one person to stand up to unjust actions to inspire change. The shooting and killing of Dijon Kizzee, Anthony Weber, and Andres Guardado by individual officers has further raised concerns and anger over the police culture, training, and interaction with people of color. Adversely, an individual took to violence against two sheriff deputies this past weekend seriously injuring both officers.
On Monday, August 31, 2020, two Los Angeles County Sherriff deputies shot and killed Dijon Kizzee, a 29-year-old African American man from Lancaster, CA, visiting friends and family in the Westmont neighborhood of Los Angeles. Shortly after Mr. Kizzee was pronounced dead, community activists gathered at the sight of the shooting. They marched to the local Sheriff’s station to protest the unnecessary murder of another Black man by those pledged to protect and serve. Protesters are rightfully outraged, and the family deserves answers and transparency.