California cops shoot dead double amputee, 36, as he tries to run away from them on his stumps: Huntington police say officers feared Anthony Lowe Jr. was going to ‘throw his knife at them’
WARNING: Graphic Content
Three officers from Huntington Park Police Dept were filmed firing at least eight shots at Anthony Lowe Jr. as he tries to run away from them cops said, on his stumps
Officers said the 36-year-old father-of-two had just stabbed someone unprovoked and was trying to run away from two officers
Police said Lowe was wielding a large blade knife and officers feared he was going to ‘throw his knife at them’
Huntington Sheriff’s office said cops were responding to call that an unidentified victim, called police to report the alleged stabbing
Stabbing victim whose name has not been made public, sustained a punctured lung and was taken to a hospital, police said
Lowe’s family claim he was murdered and are seeking answers
The officers involved have been placed on leave but no other action has been taken
A group of police officers in South Los Angeles shot and killed a double amputee on Thursday as he tried to run away from them on his stumps after jumping out of his wheelchair.
The three cops from Huntington Park Police Department were filmed firing at least eight shots at Anthony Lowe Jr., a 36-year-old father-of-two.
His family say he lost the lower halves of his legs recently after an altercation with police in Texas.
The police report states that Lowe Jr. had just stabbed someone unprovoked and was trying to run away from two officers on Thursday.
A rather grainy footage of Lowe’s encounter with police, recorded on a cell phone the double amputee, leaping out of his wheel chair and the two officers giving chase first trying to tase him, then chasing him as he ran down the sidewalk on the stumps of both his legs, away from his wheelchair.
A second police car arrived, from which a third cop emerged. He turns and tries to hurry away from them, clutching what seemed like a large butcher’s knife in one hand. Within 15 seconds of the third officer arriving, they fired multiple shots, shooting Lowe in the upper torso.
Once he was on the ground lying on his stomach, they placed him in handcuffs.
‘The suspect was tased at least twice by Huntington Park Officers but the deployment of the taser was ineffective, the LA County Sheriff’s Office release said.
‘The suspect attempted to throw the butcher knife at the officers again, at which time an officer involved shooting occurred,’ the release continues.
“They were trying to give this guy the less-lethal taser shock. And because it was ineffective, they had to go to something that was more effective.”
Lowe Jr. later died at the scene.
The person he allegedly stabbed has not been identified and his family is now demanding answers from the police department. The officers involved have not been named, either.
Lt. Hugo Reynaga of the LA County Sheriff’s Office said the officers involved had been placed on leave ‘for a few days’ but that no official disciplinary action had been taken.
In the Friday statement, the Sheriff’s Department said that a man in a wheelchair, later identified as Lowe, allegedly stabbed a man Thursday afternoon before fleeing in a wheelchair.
Lt. Reynaga said the victim, whose name has not been made public, called police to report the alleged stabbing and that he sustained a punctured lung and was taken to a hospital.
Reynaga said he did not know the medical status of the man who was stabbed.
The LA County Sheriff’s Office is now investigating the incident, which comes three weeks after unarmed 29-year-old Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by a different group of police officers in Memphis, Tennessee.
‘They murdered my son, in a wheelchair with no legs. They do need to do something about it,’ his mother, Dorothy Lowe, said at a press conference on Sunday.
The family told The LA Times that he lost the lower half of his legs recently following a different altercation with police in Texas.
He had been living with his mother as a result of the injury.
On the day of his death, she says he’d told her he was going to McDonald’s.
It’s unclear who he is alleged to have stabbed, or what that person’s condition is now.
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