Police Meet With Critics Over Slaying of Elderly Man

South Los Angeles residents voiced anger Sunday about the death of an elderly man police shot and killed on a street corner Saturday after he allegedly pointed a knife at an officer.

Police met with residents on Sunday to explain their version of what happened in an attempt to assuage the concerns. Although several community leaders who attended the meeting said they felt reassured, others still questioned why the man had to be killed.

“I’m not certain it was necessary,” said Horace Penman, a member of the local community police advisory board. “Where was the Taser? Where was the Mace? Couldn’t the individual just been wounded? I’m greatly concerned about it.”

Cmdr. David Kalish, spokesman for the LAPD, said officers did not have “the luxury of time” to use other means, such as tear gas or bean-bag guns to subdue the man.

Los Angeles police officers were responding to a possible robbery at Washington Mutual Bank near the intersection of Manchester and Vermont avenues Saturday afternoon when Joe Joshua, 76, rode up on a bicycle. Officials said he became belligerent after two officers told him to stay away from the area.

Joshua displayed a large knife under his shirt and threatened to kill the officers, police said. He then removed the knife from his waistband and lunged at Officer Brian Preston, who, fearing for his life, fired one round at the man, officials said. Joshua died at the scene. Police would not say where Joshua was shot.

Police said officers had gone to get a bean-bag gun when Joshua approached Preston with the knife.

Preston, 31, is a patrol officer assigned to the 77th Street station and has been with the LAPD for five years.

Police said the incident started when several residents flagged down officers and reported suspicious activity at the bank. Preston and other officers were helping secure the area, although it was later determined that nothing was amiss in the bank.

Witnesses had differing accounts of the incident. Some said Joshua walked toward police with the knife in his hand; others said he had his hands up in the air and was walking to his bicycle when he was shot.

But the residents agreed on one thing: Joshua didn’t need to die.

“I’ve seen white men distraught with a knife, and they [police] will beg, plead and shoot him with rubber bullets--anything to save his life,” said Masud Anwar, 35, a local merchant. “But they just killed that black man. He was an innocent old man. He wasn’t hurting anybody.”

On Sunday, Capt. Harlan Ward of the 77th Street station met with about 35 community members and chaplains to discuss the situation.

“I wanted to make sure they got the facts as we know them, so they could take the information and disseminate it to their block clubs and congregations,” said Ward, who also spoke to City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents the area.

He added: “Quite naturally, shooting a person is a last resort,” he said. “In this case, the officer was in fear for his life.”

Some community members said they felt reassured after the meeting.

Hubert Andrew, a member of the station’s community police advisory board, called several block captains Sunday after meeting with Ward.

“People I called had assumed he was shot without cause,” said Andrew, 76. “This could easily mushroom into something very, very serious. So I explained what had gone down. You have to put yourself in that officer’s position when you have a split second to decide.”

Locals described Joshua as a quiet man who spent his days riding his bicycle up and down the streets, stopping to talk to people he knew in the neighborhood.

Some neighbors said he lived in an abandoned building nearby and carried a knife because he was afraid of being robbed. A few who had chatted with him said they suspected he was emotionally unstable.

“He never bothered nobody,” said Willie Moore, 56, who lives down the street from the scene of the shooting. “He was a very nice person. He just rode his bike around for exercise all day.”

On Sunday, bouquets of white and red carnations lay on the sidewalk near the spot where Joshua died.

“He was no threat or harm to anybody,” said resident Delma Robinson, who was hoping to organize a vigil in Joshua’s memory Sunday night.

“I’m so pained by this. It didn’t have to happen and it shouldn’t have happened. But unless people speak out in a peaceful manner, it will continue.”