Los Angeles police officers have fired 25 times so far this year, shooting in less than seven months on the total number of all 2024 shooting cases.
Police Department records show that after the latest incident in which a fatal shooting of a Boyle Heights replica rifle on Monday, LAPD officers shot 21 people and nine people.
This is the highest total at this point since 2018, records show. By mid-July last year, officers had fired 18 times. He attacked 14 people and killed eight. The year ended with 29 shootings.
Boyle Heights’ shooting concluded a series of four LAPD shootings over two weeks.
At a police commission meeting Tuesday, LAPD chief Jim McDonnell said the rise in shootings by officers was driven by increasingly militant suspects.
Police shootings occur despite violent crimes falling across the city. McDonnell said more cases stem from calls for service rather than “self-initiated” police operations.
The Chief said he asked the department’s key case review department to analyze the 2025 and 2024 cases. Internal reviews found an increase in the use of so-called “middle forces” weapons designed to neutralize individuals, which McDonnell called as an indication that he was trying to eliminate violent encounters before relying on death duties.
McDonnell said the increase in shootings this year is linked to an increase in people armed with firearms and replica weapons. There were 10 such cases in all 2024, but this year there were already seven, he said.
The presence of real or fake weapons “makes it very difficult for officers to assess the threat at this time,” McDonnell said.
Without providing numbers, the Chief noted an increase in attacks on police officers. He cited the July 5 incident at the Expo Park. There, officers fired guns and were grazed to the cheeks in a shootout with an armed suspect.
In that incident, Southwest gang officials were patrolling when they noticed that a man later identified as 26-year-old Ernesto Sepulveda appeared to be riding a bicycle while armed. Officers tried to detain Sepulveda, but he ran away and the foot pursuit continued, McDonnell said.
At one point during the pursuit, McDonnell said the man turned to the officer and fired him. The suspect’s gun was jammed as he fled to a nearby park.
Since then, the prosecutors have been charged with Sepulveda with two counts of planned attempted murders against a peace officer. The injured officer is expected to recover in full, McDonnell said.
Another police shooting occurred when a gang officer in the 77th division killed 63-year-old James Tulls after seeing him come out of a car with a gun in his hand. Police learn that Tullous is involved in a previous conflict that ended with him shooting another man.
Three days later, Newton’s officer was called to the report of a man who had stopped his car halfway through the intersection and began “waving his sword.” When police arrived they encountered Gurpreet Singh, 36, and led them in a short pursuit that ended in the downtown area of Crypto.com Arena.
Several bystander videos posted on social media show Singh breaks out of a vehicle surrounded by police cruisers and moves towards the officers while carrying a machete. The footage captures the moment when police fired and Shin collapsed to the ground.
The LAPD shooting bottomed in 2019 at its 26-year low. The annual tally was uneven in 2023, rising to 34.
Critics argue that LAPD officials needlessly escalate encounters until they need fatal force to unnecessarily escalate encounters through offensive tactics.
On Tuesday, the increase in shootings sparked criticism from some speakers on the committee, raising concerns from at least one commissioner, Teresa Sanchez Gordon.
As of June 28, the city had recorded 116 kills in the same period last year, compared to 152. This reflects a country’s trend of homicide rates falling a few years after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I think that’s the annoying aspect of all these,” she said.
After McDonnell promised to be looking closely at each shooting, she requested that the committee provide a report to inform them of their decision on whether the incident is in or out of policy.
According to LAPD guidelines, there are few exceptions, but it says officers can fire weapons only in the event of an imminent risk of death or serious injury.
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