L.A. Sheriff's Department tactical team deployed for a carjacking suspect in Compton

Once again, someone has been shot and killed by law enforcement. Once again, that someone was a young black man with a disability. This time, the law enforcement agency responsible for the death is saying they made a mistake. Twenty-seven-year-old Donnell Thompson was killed by a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy shooting from an armored vehicle last month. The department’s tactical team was responding to a carjacking in Compton on July 28 in which the suspect fired at deputies, crashed his vehicle and then fled on foot.

Described as a black male wearing dark clothing, the actual suspect had been apprehended when a 911 call was placed about a man laying in the front yard of a home. Deputies arrived and shouted commands to the man—identified as Thompson—who did not respond. The officers used a flash bang device and fired rubber bullets twice at Thompson, also to no avail. A third rubber bullet was shot and Thompson, according to police, raised himself off the ground and “charged” in the direction of the sheriff’s armored vehicle. An unidentified deputy, “concerned for the safety of fellow officers and the general public, made the decision to shoot Thompson with an M14 assault rifle from the turret of the armored vehicle, hitting him twice in the upper torso.