Officials work to calm community in wake of fatal police shooting of immigrant

Shirley Jahad/KPCC

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, in uniform, talks to community members on Sept. 8, 2010 about the fatal LAPD shooting of a knife-wielding Guatemalan immigrant the previous weekend near the MacArthur Park area of L.A.

LOS ANGELES - With the hope of quelling tensions on Wednesday night, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck addressed a largely immigrant community near MacArthur Park about the police shooting death of a knife-wielding day laborer.

The crowd of about 300 people greeted Beck with boos and chants of "justicia." Beck also read a female witness' statement provided by investigators. The woman, a neighborhood resident who was not named, said she saw a man bleeding from his hand but thought nothing of it until he tried to stab her and a pregnant woman who was standing next to her.

The community meeting was held at John H. Liechty Middle School, 650 S. Union Ave. The location was near where Manuel Jamines, 37, of Guatemala, was shot by police about 1 p.m. Sunday.

Police said Jamines was allegedly threatening a woman and her child when bicycle officers responded to the scene near MacArthur Park.

"The individual had just had victims who he was trying to stab and who he was holding," Beck said today on KPCC's Patt Morrison show. "These officers are going to protect people, they are trying to do the best they can with a situation that they don't get to pick. If you want your Los Angeles police to retreat from danger to citizens, then you probably have the wrong police department."

Police said Jamines ignored repeated orders in English and Spanish to drop the knife he was holding and lunged at an officer when he was shot.

The shooting prompted hundreds of people to take to the streets in anger. Protesters on Tuesday night threw rocks, bottles, eggs and other debris at officers, who declared the gathering an unlawful assembly, because no one had a permit for a demonstration.

People also dumped trash containers in the street and lit garbage on fire. More than 100 people directed their ire at the police department's Rampart Station on Sixth Street, throwing rocks and eggs at the building.

Police fired at least two rounds of foam projectiles at the crowd. In the mayhem, a man on a bicycle crashed and cut his head. Three officers were injured.

Similar confrontations occurred Monday night, though police purposely did not disrupt an impromptu gathering at the site where Jamines was shot.

More than two dozen protesters were arrested. Witnesses said that Jamines may have been drunk and out of order, but police did not need to kill him.

Los Angeles City Councilman Ed Reyes, in whose district the shooting occurred, blamed the violence on a small group of agitators who went to the area to exploit a tragedy.

Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck has been greeted by boos, whistles and chants of 'justicia!' by an angry crowd at a community meeting intended to calm residents after the fatal police shooting of a knife-wielding man.

A crowd of about 300 attended the meeting Wednesday at school in the Westlake neighborhood where 37-year-old Manuel Jimenes was shot to death Sunday by an officer after he allegedly lunged at the officer with a knife.

KPCC's Shirley Jahad contributed audio to this report. Wire services contributed to this report.