Los Angeles, – The relatives of the man killed by shots fired by an off-duty policeman at a store owned by the Costco distribution company in Corona, California, said the victim suffers from a disability and asked on Monday to review the surveillance videos.
Kenneth French, 32, died after a Los Angeles Police Department officer (LAPD) off-duty fired at him (allegedly in self-defense), in an incident in which parents were seriously injured of the victim.
“Our family has witness reports that do not match the original story, please check the surveillance tape and find out the truth,” Rick Shureih, cousin of the victim, asked on his Facebook account.
Russell French and Paola French, parents of the deceased, are admitted to coerce criticism in a local hospital, after being also hit by gunfire.
The Police of Corona, explained in a press release that on Friday afternoon the agent lined up with his one-year-old son in his arms, when, “without provocation”, a stranger attacked him and that motivated the officer he will fire his weapon at him and his family.
The unit said the officer was transported to a hospital but without serious injuries and that the child was unharmed.
The authorities have not revealed whether French was armed and whether the officer identified himself as a member of the police during the apparent altercation that preceded the incident near the meat section.
Speaking to the newspaper The Press Enterprise, Shureih described his cousin as a person with mental disabilities, who was always accompanied by his parents and that “the family is surprised and looking for answers.”
He added that the parents and their bereaved son were on site buying food for Father’s Day celebrations.
The press office of the LAPD did not want to reveal to Efe the name of the agent involved in the event, who was not arrested, but sent home while an internal investigation was under way.
The Riverside County prosecutor, where Corona sits, is investigating the incident, while the family began an online campaign to raise funds on Monday. (EFEUSA)
