Unarmed black man killed by California police after pulling vape from his pocket

An unarmed black man who was killed by police after pulling an object out of his pocket and assuming a ‘shooting stance’ was holding an electronic cigarette. The fatal shooting of Alfred Olango drew the vape from his pocket and extended his hands, prompting officers in a San Diego suburb to open fire. El Cajon Lt. Rob Ransweiler said. Officers arrived at a parking lot next to a Mexican fast-food restaurant about 2:10 p.m., and Alfred Olango, who was unarmed, was shot just a minute later, police said. Mayor Bill Wells said he was concerned how quickly the shooting took place, though he said video taken by a bystander was enlightening and he didn’t think it was ‘tremendously complicated to figure out what happened’. Police said the man had refused to comply with instructions to remove a hand from his trouser pocket and paced back and forth before rapidly drawing an object. The item turned out to be an electronic cigarette device, police confirmed. Shawn Letchaw hugs a woman named Marie at the scene where a black man was shot by police earlier in El Cajon (Picture: AP) Some protesters said he was shot while his hands were raised in the air, though police disputed that and a single frame from a smartphone video supported their account. Wells was asked how he would feel if it was his child that had been shot. ‘I saw a man who was distraught, and a man acting like he was in great pain,’ Wells said. ‘And I saw him get gunned down and killed. If he was my son, I would be devastated.’ Olango came to the U.S. decades ago as a refugee from Uganda. An attorney for his family said Olango was distraught over the recent death of his best friend and was having an emotional breakdown. Olango, 38, had a history of run-ins with the law, including selling cocaine, driving drunk and illegally possessing a 9mm semi-automatic handgun when he was arrested in Colorado in 2005 with pot and ecstasy in his car, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in federal court and was sentenced to nearly four years for being a felon in possession of a gun. The single photo is all police released depicting the incident that sparked angry protests by demonstrators demanding more information and wanting to know how police could shoot an unarmed man within one minute of arriving at the scene. Olango’s relatives demanded the full video be released, according to Dan Gilleon, a lawyer who says he is representing the family. ‘They’re cherry-picking part of the video,’ Gilleon said. ‘This is exactly what police have said is unfair when only portions of video are released against them.’ Olango’s sister live-streamed the aftermath of the shooting on Facebook. After dark, scores of people gathered quietly around candles lining a curb in front of bloodstained pavement at the strip mall where Olango was shot. The spot in front of fast-food restaurant has become a makeshift altar with a mound of flowers. More than 200 people marched in the streets near the site, yelling ‘no justice, no peace, no racist police!’ Police in riot gear, some of them with dogs, faced off with protesters occasionally, bringing some tense moments, but mostly kept their distance. There were no reports of any violence or arrests. The fatal shooting happened less than two weeks after black men were shot and killed by police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Charlotte, North Carolina, where violent protests broke out.