Twenty-five-year-old Manuel Angel Diaz was shot and killed on Saturday afternoon as he ran away from police officers in Anaheim, Calif. A police spokesman said that the officers approached Diaz because he and two other men were standing near a car in an alley, an activity they considered suspicious, the New York Times reports.
But since then, Mayor Tom Tait has called for a state and federal review of the shooting, and for the past four days, demonstrators have been protesting the shooting of the apparently unarmed man — the eighth officer-involved shooting in the city this year.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that 24 people were arrested last night, and early this morning as many as 500 demonstrators and 250 police officers from several Orange County cities faced off in seven hours of confrontations that ended around 2 a.m.:
The clashes followed a City Council meeting Tuesday in which city leaders voted to ask the U.S. attorney's office to investigate weekend officer-involved shootings that killed two men and prompted a $50 million civil-rights lawsuit.
The council chambers were packed with people and about 100 protesters were unable to get inside, Dunn said.
They chanted and held a peaceful rally outside. But the crowd swelled and when some people pushed on the windows, police came out and pushed them back, Dunn said.
Demonstrators marched to police headquarters and back to City Hall, but violence didn't erupt until around 6:30 p.m. when police detained a demonstrator who reportedly had a gun, Dunn said.
It turned out the man did not have a weapon, but some in the crowd began throwing rocks at officers, Dunn said.
It was the fourth day of violence in the wake of two deadly officer-involved shootings.
The family of Manuel Diaz sued the city and the Police Department on Tuesday, claiming he was shot and killed Saturday while running away, lawyer James Rumm said. The family is seeking $50 million in damages.
Read more at the New York Times and the San Jose Mercury News.