LAPD Shooting: Identity of the ‘Homeless’ Victim Questioned
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Ventura County Sheriff’s Office(LOS ANGELES) — A French official raised questions on Tuesday about the true identity of the homeless man fatally shot by Los Angeles police officers in a confrontation that was caught on videotape.
ABC News has learned that the LAPD had identified the man as Charley Saturmin Robinet, a convicted bank robber who carried a French passport.
But Arnaud Guillois, the press counselor at the French Embassy in Washington, told ABC News that the homeless man killed on Skid Row “is not French.”
French officials have checked with the consulate and found that he has never been a citizen of France, Guillois said, adding that French officials did not know the man’s nationality at this time.
Court documents confirm that the man who used the name Charley Robinet was released from federal prison on May 12, 2014 after serving 14 years in prison.
A call to the LAPD Tuesday evening seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned.
A law enforcement source confirmed to ABC News that Robinet was 39 at the time of his death.
A 2005 court document notes that a state psychiatrist examined him and determined that he had a “mental disorder or defect” but it was unclear if he received treatment.
Witnesses at the scene told KABC-TV that the man was called “Africa” by people who knew him. The shooting took place on the city’s Skid Row, a stretch of Central Los Angeles where many of the city’s homeless congregate.
Footage obtained by ABC News shows Robinet entering his tent on the sidewalk shortly before police arrive at the scene.
At least two investigations into the shooting are underway.
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