Two Torrance police officers were indicted Thursday, April 13, in the fatal shooting of a Black man sitting in a suspected stolen car in 2018, a killing that sparked months of protests in the community by Black Lives Matter activists, according to a defense attorney for one of the officers.
Attorney Tom Yu confirmed that a Los Angeles County grand jury returned the indictments, but he said he wasn’t aware of the specific charges against Officers Anthony Chavez and Matthew Concannon in the killing of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell.
Yu, who represents Chavez, said both men are scheduled to be arraigned Monday at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles.
The grand jury convened in March to consider evidence against Chavez and Concannon presented by special prosecutor Lawrence Middleton.
Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey previously found that the officers acted legally and in self-defense in the Mitchell shooting. However, the investigation was reopened in 2021 by her successor, progressive District Attorney George Gascon, who vowed during his campaign to aggressively reexamine shootings and use-of-force cases involving police officers.
The District Attorney’s Office declined Thursday to confirm the indictment against Chavez and Concannon. “We cannot comment on the existence of an indictment,” the office said in a statement.
Sgt. Ron Salary, a spokesperson for the Torrance Police Department, said he could not disclose the employment status of Chavez and Concannon. Instead, he told the Southern California News Group it would have to file a public records request with the city to obtain that information.
Mitchell, 23, was confronted in the parking lot of a Carson Street supermarket in Old Torrance as he sat behind the wheel of a car that had been reported stolen. Between his legs was what appeared to be a firearm, but was actually a modified air rifle, reports said.
As officers approached the car, they…
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