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ByAlisonNoon The Associated Press SACRAMENTO The family of a man killed in July by Sacramento police after 911 callers reported he was wav- ing a knife and acting errat- ically demanded Monday that two officers face mur- der charges after dash-cam video revealed they talked inside their police cruiser about running him down. He dodged the cruiser twice and was shot 14 times less than a minute later by the same two officers. The officers "behaved like big game hunters clos- ing in on an animal," said John Burris, a lawyer for the family of Joseph Mann, who was mentally unstable and homeless. The demand for the mur- der charges came as Los Angeles police chief Char- lie Beck defended his offi- cers in the fatal shootings of a black man Saturday who police say was armed with a loaded semi-automatic gun and a Hispanic man on Sunday who officers say was wielding replica handgun. The latest police shoot- ings happened amid height- ened tensions over police actions involving black people and other minori- ties across the country, and followed two more police shootings by California po- lice last week of black men in San Diego and Pasadena. In the Sacramento case, police have said Mann was waving a knife in the air and doing karate moves in the streets just before police responded. But Burris told reporters he was not threat- ening anybody and that the two officers who shot him, John Tennis and Randy Lo- zoya, should face a U.S. Jus- tice Department civil rights investigation in addition to murder charges. The officers can be heard on the recording saying "I'm gonna hit him" and "OK, go for it" before appearing to drive their cruiser twice at Mann, who managed to scramble out of its way both times. The officers then stopped the cruiser, got out of it, pursued him on foot and opened fire. "Mann was standing sta- tionaryonasidewalkwithno one in close proximity when the officers unloaded their guns," Burris wrote in a let- ter he said he sent U.S. Attor- ney General Loretta Lynch. Sacramento police spokesman Matthew McPhail said he could not immediately comment on whether officers are trained to use squad cars as weap- ons. But he said the law and police protocol allow any person to use reason- able means to defend them- selves under extreme cir- cumstances. "Our officers are encour- aged to assess each circum- stance and think critically about the tools at their dis- posal," McPhail said. Tennis and Lozoya were put on a brief leave after the July 11 shooting and re- turned to work on desk duty instead of patrol the follow- ing week. An administra- tive review of their actions is underway. "It doesn't service any- body's interest with the public or the city, even the officers themselves or the family of the deceased, to have any sort of determina- tion to be made before the investigation is complete," McPhail said. Surveillance videos show Mann doing the karate moves, zigzagging as he walked around a down-and- out commercial neighbor- hood in north Sacramento where many businesses are shuttered. Police 911 recordings re- leased previously included callers who said a man was waving a knife in the air, had a gun in his waistband and appeared to be men- tally ill. Family members have de- scribed Mann as a college graduate who was smart, loved politics and econom- ics, and succeeded in sev- eral careers before deteri- orating into mental illness about five years ago. They said he had been living on the streets and struggled with drugs before his death. Toxicology tests revealed Mann had methamphet- amine in his system the day he died, according to Police Chief Sam Somers. A special team of officers that can assist other offi- cers in dealing with men- tally ill people was not sent to the area where callers re- ported Mann was acting er- ratically. The first police cruiser that arrived rolled up along- side Mann as he was walk- ing down a street. Mann turned away from that ve- hicle when the car with the two officers approached him, talking inside their cruiser about hitting Mann. When Mann ran out of the cars way, the officer driving the cruiser backed it up and turned to aim in Mann's direction again. It accelerated toward Mann, who ran across a median. The cruiser stopped and the officers got out. About 15 seconds later, 18 shots were fired — 14 hit Mann. SACRAMENTO Family of man shot 14 times by police wants charges RICHPEDRONCELLI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Attorney John Burris, center, comforts Robert and Deborah Mann, family members of Joseph Mann, who was killed by Sacramento police in July, a er a news conference Monday in Sacramento. By Amanda Lee Myers The Associated Press LOS ANGELES The Los An- geles police chief on Mon- day defended the use of deadly force against two men in separate fatal shoot- ings over the weekend, say- ing one turned toward of- ficers with a gun and the other pointed what looked like a real gun at police. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck released new details of Sat- urday's shooting of 18-year- old Carnell Snell in South Los Angeles and a fatal po- lice shooting of an uniden- tified Hispanic man on Sun- day. The shootings come amid heightened tensions over police actions involving black people and other mi- norities across the country. In the shooting of Snell, officers tried to pull over a car he was in because it had paper plates that didn't match the year of the vehi- cle — a possible indication of a stolen car and some- thing commonly seen in drive-by shootings, Beck said. Snell, seated in the back, looked at officers and then ducked down "as if to hide from them," Beck said. When officers tried to pull the car over, Snell jumped out holding his waistband and the foot pur- suit began, he said. After a chase of several hundred yards, Beck said, Snell took a gun from his waistband and turned in the direction of the pursu- ing officers, prompting the shooting. Snell died at the scene and police recovered a fully loaded semi-automatic gun with one round in the chamber within 5 feet of where Snell lay, Beck said, adding that the weapon had not been fired. Beck did not say whether one or more officers fired, how close they were to Snell, or whether the car turned out to be stolen. The officers were not wearing body cameras, but a surveillance video from a business clearly showed Snell was armed, Beck said. The shooting occurred in a Los Angeles neighbor- hood where nearly 450 peo- ple have been shot this year, making it the worst in the city for gun violence, Beck said. "We are doing our abso- lute best to take guns out of the hands of those that would use them against others, and sometimes that leads to circumstances where Los Angeles police officers are put into peril and have to defend them- selves," the chief said. A group of people pro- tested outside Beck's news conference, chanting, "No justice, no peace, no racist police." Three were arrested for unlawful assembly after refusing orders to leave po- lice headquarters and take their demonstration to a public street. "We're so tired," said protester Jade Daniels, 24. "These kids don't want to die. What black per- son would point a gun at a group of cops?" Activists have called on police to publicly name the officers involved in the shooting, which occurred near Snell's home. They also appealed for a quick, trans- parent investigation. Snell was on probation after pleading no contest to one felony count of as- sault likely to produce great bodily injury, according to court records. On Sunday, a man was shot when he pointed what turned out to be a replica handgun at police, Beck said, adding that an or- ange tip had been colored black to make the replica look real. The man remained un- identified. He was only de- scribed as Hispanic. Beck said both officers in- volved in that shooting were wearing body cameras and the footage supports their accounts while refuting claims that the man was shot on the ground. The officers were re- sponding to reports of a man with a gun. "In both these instances the officers feared for their lives because of the actions of the individuals that they were pursuing," Beck said. Snell was the third black man in five days to die in confrontations with police in Southern California. 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