A Los Angeles teen was killed by a hail of police gunfire on Wednesday night after eight officers fired 90 rounds in total as he appeared to point an object at them, according to The Associated Press.
Police confronted 19-year-old Abdul Arian following a car chase that was caught on video, during which he allegedly called 911 and warned that he had a weapon and would hurt officers if they pointed firearms at him. After he was gunned down, officers discovered that he was unarmed.
Arian also allegedly published a number of disturbing messages on his Facebook page, and “checked in” via global position systems to the highway where the police chase began, writing simply, “Home sweet home.” The pursuit began shortly thereafter when he refused to pull over after officers noticed him driving erratically.
Those messages, his phone call to 911, and his behavior during the pursuit led police to believe that Arian may have intended to commit suicide by cop, but the teen’s family isn’t so sure.
“He wanted to be an LAPD cop, and the LAPD killed him,” the teen’s uncle, Hamed Arian, told The Los Angeles Times, adding that he believes the item in his hands was a cell phone.
“He was not depressed or anything, whatsoever,” he also told Los Angeles news station KTLA.
This video is from CBS 2 in Los Angeles, published to YouTube on April 12, 2012.
Stephen C. Webster
Stephen C. Webster is
the senior editor of Raw Story, and is based out of Austin, Texas. He
previously worked as the associate editor of The Lone Star Iconoclast in
Crawford, Texas, where he covered state politics and the peace
movement’s resurgence at the start of the Iraq war. Webster has also
contributed to publications such as True/Slant, Austin Monthly, The
Dallas Business Journal, The Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Weekly, The
News Connection and others. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenCWebster.
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