Man shot by Long Beach police identified as Woodland Hills college student

Authorities have identified a man fatally shot by a Long Beach police officer this week as a college student and competitive debater from Woodland Hills.

Ferad Morad, 20, was killed Wednesday night in what police say was a bizarre and possibly drug-fueled confrontation with an officer trying to help him. Relatives and friends of Morad, who attended Moorpark College, have criticized the police in online postings. They say he was killed while “unarmed and in desperate need of medical attention.�

The shooting is the subject of ongoing investigations by the Long Beach police and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. The officer has not been identified.

Police say Morad became violent and appeared to be under the influence of drugs while with friends at an apartment on East 15th Street. He started “acting erratically and got into a physical altercation with his friends that lasted approximately 10 minutes,� according to a Police Department press release.

Morad then jumped through a second-story plate-glass window, the release said. An arriving officer saw a man covered in blood and announced he was there to help him, according to the release, but Morad stalked toward him “telling the officer he was going to attack him.�

After using a Taser and “an impact weapon� on Morad without success, the officer shot him, the release said.

Morad attended El Camino Real Charter High School, where he excelled at speech and debate, qualifying for the national championships his senior year. He continued to debate competitively in college, participating in a national community college competition this year.

A relative identified as a family spokesperson did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Kamiran Dadah, a friend of Morad, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram that Morad was to start attending Cal State Long Beach in the fall and planned to be an attorney.

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