Friday 15 May, 2015 9:09am
Protesters are expected to descend upon Windward Ave today at the site of the Brendon Glenn shooting.
The aim of the protest, to not only remember Glenn through a morning of creative, non-violent action, but also to forcefully urge the LAPD to release a security video taken from Townhouse that captured the shooting.
Brendon Glenn, affectionately known amongst his peers as Dizzle, had only been in Venice 2 months when at around 11:30pm on Tuesday 5th, May police respond to a 911 call regarding a man disturbing the peace. A scuffle broke out between Glenn and the police resulting in one officer firing two shots at Glenn. Glenn later died in hospital.
LAPD Chief of Police, Charlie Beck said after seeing video footage of the incident that he is “very concerned” about the shooting, adding that it generally takes “extraordinary circumstances” for police to shoot an unarmed person, and it’s unclear if those circumstances existed in Tuesday night’s shooting.
Craig Lally, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents LAPD officers, called Beck’s comments “completely irresponsible” and said it is too early to suggest the shooting may have been improper.
“As in the criminal justice system, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. We encourage everyone to reserve judgment until the investigation has run its course, and the facts are collected and assessed,” Lally said.
Beck said the department is working with the District Attorney’s Office and the LAPD’s independent inspector general to investigate the shooting.
“We will expend all resources to find out the truth of what happened … on Windward Avenue,” he said.
Glenn, who came from New York City and struggled with drugs and alcohol. Glenn had sought shelter and assistance at The Teen Project’s Venice P.A.D. homeless center, according to the center’s Timothy Pardue.
Glenn leaves behind a 3 year old son, The P.A.D. have begun a fundraising effort that will not only help send Glenn’s body home to his family but help his young child.
Today’s protest will coincide with the City of Los Angeles Sanitation sweep. The sweep previously a bi-monthly activity taken by the City to clean up abandoned belongings along Ocean Front Walk, will increase from today to a weekly cleanup.
