Day: February 1, 2023

The Jan. 26 police shooting of a 36-year-old double-amputee in southeastern Los Angeles is the latest killing of a Black man to set off protests about police violence.

Activists and the family of Anthony Lowe Jr. took to the Huntington Park Police Department headquarters on Monday to condemn the killing. “They murdered my son in a wheelchair—with no legs,” Lowe’s mother Dorothy said.

Last week, five police officers were charged with second-degree murder for beating 29-year-old Tyre Nichols in Memphis—leading to his death days after. Protests broke out across the U.S. following Nichols’ death.

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What is the police’s account of the Lowe shooting?

In a Jan. 30 statement, the Huntington Park Police Department said its officers were responding to a stabbing on the afternoon of Jan. 26.

The stabbing victim described his attacker as a man in a wheelchair. The attacker allegedly “dismounted the wheelchair, ran to the victim without provocation, and stabbed him in the side of the chest” with a “12-inch butcher knife,” before fleeing the scene in the wheelchair.

In the search for the assailant, they located the alleged suspect, later identified as Lowe, a few blocks away, holding a knife. Huntington police said its officers attempted to detain the man, but authorities said he ignored verbal orders and “threatened to advance or throw the knife at the officers.” They also said they tasered the suspect twice.

“The suspect continued to threaten officers with the butcher knife, resulting in an officer-involved shooting,” the statement read.

L.A. County Fire Department Paramedics declared the suspect dead at the scene.

What about the police officers involved?

The police officers involved were placed on paid administrative leave per protocol, according to the Huntington police.

The Huntington Park Police Department, Homicide Bureau of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the shooting.

How is the family reacting?

A grainy video of the incident, which TIME could not independently verify, is circulating online, appearing to show Lowe, dismounted from his wheelchair, hobble away from two police officers as he carries what appears to be a large knife. A police car then blocks the view.

The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that Lowe’s sister identified him in the video. It also said that the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department collected video from a nearby establishment, though it does not intend to release the footage.

Cliff Smith, an organizer with the Coalition for Community Control Over the Police, called on Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón to prosecute the officers involved. “We want specific justice,” he said at the press conference outside local police headquarters Monday.

Lowe’s mother Dorothy said, “This situation is worse than George Floyd. When these videos go out, it’s going to be all bad.”

The family has not commented on Lowe’s alleged involvement in the stabbing incident.