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On Monday, police in Los Angeles fatally shot an unarmed black male that family and friends are identifying as Ezell Ford.

Police, however, have yet to identify the victim.

From the LA Times:

An officer with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Newton Division conducted “an investigative stop” in the 200 block of West 65th Street about 8:20 p.m. Monday, according to a LAPD news release. During the stop, a “struggle ensued” and the officer shot the person.

LAPD media relations officer Jane Kim said no other information was available, including the victim’s identity or why the officer approached him or her.

Ford’s family, however, told KTLA a different story.

A woman who said she was the deceased man’s mother identified him in a phone call to KTLA as Ezell Ford.

“My heart is so heavy,” Tritobia Ford said in an interview Tuesday evening. “My son was a good kid. He didn’t deserve to die the way he did.”

Her son was lying on the ground and complying with the officers’ commands when he was shot three times, Tritobia Ford said.

In the aftermath of the shooting, she said, police refused to inform her of where Ezell Ford was hospitalized.

Ford’s mother told the news station that her son was “mentally challenged.” They are demanding answers from the department.

In the meantime, the shooting will be investigated by the LAPD’s Force Investigation Division. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office will also take a look at the shooting.

Police Chief Charlie Beck, Inspector General Alex Bustamante and the Board of Police Commissioners will ultimately review the results to verify whether the shooting fell within guidelines mandating that use of force be “objectively reasonable.”

The shooting comes just days after Ferguson Mo. police shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old. No officers were injured in either shooting.

SOURCE: LA Times, KTLA | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

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