Family Demands Answers in Elk Grove Police Shooting of Black Man

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On Tuesday, Lett studied the home on Owl Court where his younger brother was shot several times during an apparent fracas with the Elk Grove police officer. The shooting capped a minutes-long pursuit that ended in the cul-de-sac shortly after 4 a.m. April 11. As relatives pressed for answers, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, which is investigating the shooting, sent a memo offering more details on the location of Alexander's gunshot wounds. The Bee had reported a discrepancy between the department's initial account of shots to the torso and "again in the upper chest" with the coroner's finding on cause of death: "gunshot wound of back into chest." In the department memo, Capt. James E. Lewis, who also wrote the press release, said Alexander suffered additional gunshot wounds to his "frontal upper body, a head wound and an apparent exit wound in the chest." Family members of LaMarr Alexander gathered this week at the spot where the 26-year-old man was shot to death by an Elk Grove police officer in the backyard of a Laguna home. They say they will continue to come, hold vigil and demand answers in the shooting in which the fatal bullet struck the man's back. "I'm not saying the shot was necessarily wrong, but there are a lot of questions," said Alexander's brother, Ishmill Lett, a police officer from Southern California. "And I have to say, this doesn't look good."

  • Black Man Armed with Garden Tools? : Alexander apparently ran to a backyard, where sheriff's officials reported he "was actively fighting with the officer" as other officers arrived at the scene. He allegedly threw a 12-inch ceramic flowerpot at the officer's head and apparently was grabbing nearby garden tools when the shots were fired. A semiautomatic pistol was found later in Alexander's pants pocket, but it was not drawn during the ordeal. "I heard him yelling for help; I didn't know it was him," recalled Alexander's aunt, Lorraine Johnson, who lives a few doors from the shooting scene. After hearing seven gunshots from her window, she heard a man's plea: " 'Help me! Help me! I'm right here, I'm in the backyard.' " Johnson said she heard a female officer's voice tell the man to get down. She said she heard the man plead again for help before the officer said, "OK." "And then," Johnson said, "it was quiet." [MORE]