Is this a case of first degree murder by the LAPD? This is an older story which features recently released?video from a survilance camera in 2010. The video shows LAPD police officer Julio Love firing his pistol at a fleeing man, later identified as 20-year-old?Jonathan Cuevas.
Here’s a statement from the family attorney James Segall Gutierrez,
“One, two, three four, five?he stands?six, he stands over them?seventh shot,”
Four of the seven shots hit Cuevas, who later died at the hospital.
Cuevas was out with friends late at night in the Lynwood area on October 10, 2010. He and his friends were walking to a house party when they decided to stop at a liquor store on Long Beach Boulevard to buy beer and snack foods.
According to the police report, upon leaving the store the group of men jaywalked across the street around 1:45am. The deputy patrol car pulled up to the men in order to cite them for the alleged pedestrian violation. That’s when Cuevas took off running.
It is still unclear what prompted Cuevas to run. Officer Love claims that Cuevas pulled a gun on him and pointed the weapon at him. However, the footage of the event does not seem to indicate that took place.
Also there is a discrepancy with the description of the weapon. Officer Love described the weapon as chrome colored, yet the weapon police said to have recovered from the scene was black with a wood handle. The weapon also did not have Cuevas’s prints on it.
Many would ask why Cuevas would flash or point a gun at an officer and just run away. The LAPD cleared Officer Love of any wrong doing?and?now the family of Cuevas is seeking justice through civil court with the release of this footage.
So once again did a police officer get away with first degree murder? Here is the video, judge for yourself.
