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Community Outraged After Deputy Shoots, Kills Gang Member
Sheriff’s Department says man was armed, family members and activists say otherwise

By Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer

Community members in the greater Compton area are outraged after a deputy June 26 shot and killed a known gang member in the unincorporated county area commonly referred to as West Compton.

More than 100 people gathered at a Sunday, June 29 vigil at Campanella Park to mourn the loss of 26-year-old Bryan Moore and speak out against what they call another instance of police brutality against the community. They say Moore was unarmed and shot in the back.
An attorney for the Moore family, Milton Grimes, said several eyewitness accounts of what happened suggest that the deputy’s use of force was unjustified.

The incident took place two Thursday’s ago at approximately 5:55 p.m. in the 1000 block of 150th Street, said Compton Station Capt. William Ryan.

According to media reports, Moore’s girlfriend said she and Moore were driving to her nearby home around 6 p.m. that evening when she noticed a patrol car behind her. When 27-year-old Chanta Deeminter mentioned it to Moore, he panicked, jumped out of the car and ran. A deputy chased him on foot, and then she heard three gunshots.

According to the Sheriff’s Department, however, Moore was alone and was not in a vehicle, but walking.

Two deputies in a black-and-white were patrolling West Compton, which is part of the station’s service area, when they saw Moore walking southbound on Wadsworth Avenue holding his waistband and walking in a manner that suggested he was concealing a firearm, Ryan said.

“As the deputies drove toward him, he immediately began running,” Ryan said. “Both deputies saw him holding a gun in his right hand.”

Moore jumped a fence at the northeast corner of Wadsworth and 150th Street as both deputies ordered Moore to show his hands, Ryan said.

Moore did not comply, and after hopping the fence, one of the deputies ran to the corner in an attempt to contain Moore. The other deputy, still in the black-and-white, edged the car back toward the driveway of the home next door, Ryan said.

During this time, both deputies lost sight of Moore for several seconds. The deputy in the car then caught sight of Moore as he was hopping another fence into the driveway, Ryan said.

At this point Moore’s back was toward the deputy, who again ordered Moore to show his hands, Ryan said. Moore again did not comply. Still crouching down on the ground, Moore began to rise and turn toward the deputy with his hands still in front of him as if he were holding something, Ryan said.

Because the deputy had seen Moore with a gun a few seconds earlier and because Moore refused to show his hands as he turned toward the deputy, the deputy detected a threat and, in fear for his safety, fired three times at Moore, Ryan said.

Moore was hit twice in the buttocks and once in the lower back. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Although both deputies said they saw Moore with a firearm, no weapon was recovered at the scene, Ryan said.

“It’s not uncommon for these guys to hide or throw their guns,” when being pursued, said Ryan. A thorough investigation of the scene, however, did not turn up a weapon.

Asked about Deeminter’s conflicting account of what happened, Ryan said several witnesses interviewed by the slew of internal and external agencies investigating the shooting backed up the deputies’ accounts.

But Michael Chattom, chair of Legal Redress with the Compton-based National Association for Equal Justice in America (NAEJA), said he has two witnesses who claim the deputies never ordered Moore to stop running or to show his hands.

Chattom added last Wednesday that he had yet to sit down and interview the witnesses himself.

“The way we understand it to be, he (Moore) was in the car with his girlfriend, Chanta. Then he ran into a fellow associate’s yard. When he got to the back of the yard, the deputies started shooting him in the back,” Chattom said.

Deputies who routinely patrol that area, he said, are often accused of “antagonizing” residents and pulling people over with no probable cause, Chattom said. “We’re asking the Sheriff’s Department to make sure these deputies aren’t antagonizing the people.”

NAEJA had not yet taken an official stance on the incident pending the outcome of the various investigations being conducted.

“At this time, we have yet to render an opinion because we don’t have all the information,” he said.

Capt. Ryan said the deputies’ decision to stop Moore to determine if he was carrying a concealed weapon and the subsequent shooting were justifiable “as per training.”

“We have a lot of gang violence in this city, and our job is to make this city safe. We have 65 active gangs and about 11,000 gang members. Based upon observation, their (the deputies’) experience of how gang members carry their guns and how they walk when they’re concealing a weapon,” they had cause to stop and question Moore, Ryan said.

“Most reasonable people don’t run from the police,” he added. “They are going to inquire why they’re being stopped.”

At 26, Moore had a laundry list of felony convictions including assault with a deadly weapon and was a known gang member, confirmed Lt. Dave Coleman with the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau.

The incident is the second deputy-involved shooting in the station’s service area so far this year. This past spring, deputies fired upon but did not hit a gang member at the Grandee Apartments who shot at them with an AK-47. Last year, three deputy-involved shootings took place in Compton Station’s service area, according to Operations Lt. Joseph Gooden.

Ryan said the deputy involved in the June 26 incident was put on desk duty pending the results of the investigation. He has been stationed at Compton Station and patrolling the Hub City’s streets for two years.

Both Ryan and Gooden said that compared to past incidents like those on Anzac and Butler avenues, where deputies clearly used excessive force, last month’s incident is an example of a deputy stopping a perceived threat in a controlled manner.

Some community members, however, are still upset and say they want answers. They were expected to come out in force, along with Moore’s family and its attorney, on Monday at Compton’s monthly Anti-Crime Committee meeting.