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LOS ANGELES, May 28 (UPI) _ Los Angeles
Police Chief Bernard Parks says his department's ongoing investigation into last
week's police shooting of a mentally ill homeless woman has produced no evidence
officers did anything wrong.
Parks told reporters outside LAPD headquarters:
"From what we've seen so far, these officers, at this point, do not appear (to
have) done anything wrong. We are not going to, for political expediency, or for
community concern, just declare that these officers are wrong or make them a scapegoat."
More than 350 demonstrators turned out in
Los Angeles on Tuesday to protest the shooting Margaret Laverne Mitchell, in a protest
that civil rights leaders vow to repeat until federal charges are filed against the
officers involved in the shooting.
Police say the woman pushed her shopping
cart into two police officers and tried to stab one of the officers with a large
screwdriver after they stopped to question her last week about a number of shopping
cart thefts in the area.
The officer, 27-year-old Edward Larrigan,
moved suddenly to avoid being stabbed and fired one shot that hit the woman in the
upper chest. She died soon afterward in a local hospital.
The FBI launched an investigation into the
shooting Tuesday after civil rights activists demanded a probe.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Gennaco
says he asked for the federal probe to determine whether the officer used excessive
force or violated the civil rights of the 54-year-old woman, who was a college- educated
bank employee until she was forced onto the streets by mental illness.
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Copyright 1999 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
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