PHOTOGRAPH BY: Patrick T. Fallon / Los Angeles Times
This was the scene in Anaheim yesterday afternoon as "law enforcement" converged to disperse citizens protesting seven shootings by police this year.
Something is very wrong in the "Magic Kingdom."Sunday's was the latest in a series of demonstrations staged in Orange County's largest city in the wake of two fatal police shootings last weekend.
Manuel Diaz, 25, was shot and killed by police July 21. Authorities said the unarmed man was avoiding arrest. The day after Diaz was killed, Anaheim police fatally shot Joel Acevedo, 21, who authorities say had fired on officers during a foot chase.
A third officer-involved shooting -- this one on Friday, in which police opened fire on a burglary suspect, who was unhurt -- was the city's seventh such shooting this year, five of which have been fatal. The city had four officer-involved shootings in all of 2011.
Anaheim resident Brad Owens, 55, watched protesters from the shade of a tree near the police station Sunday afternoon. He’s lived in the city for 20 years, he said, and is "not a fan" of how police handled the officer-involved shootings this week. Police Chief John Welter “has to go," he said.
“It’s a style of management. It has to be a mind set if so many people are doing it,” Owens said of the officer-involved shootings. “They’ve been aggressive and lethal.”
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