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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A homeless Kentucky man’s shooting death during an encounter with police in an abandoned house on a winter night has prompted a federal lawsuit seeking $18 million in damages.

Three officers responding to a burglary call charged upstairs and William Allen Young Jr. was shot multiple times “without any provocation or justification,” according to the suit filed Tuesday by Young’s mother, Reinella Kirilova. The suit portrayed the officers as out of control, saying the shots were fired within a second or two of the encounter.

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“The defendant police officers were well familiar with the issue of homeless individuals squatting in the abandoned house,” the suit said. “In fact, moments before they fired their weapons they indicated they were familiar with the sad plight of William Allen Young Jr.”

Young, in his early 30s, struggled with mental illness and addiction and often was found living in abandoned homes, the suit said. He was shot as many as a dozen times, it said.