A man who was shot by Los Angeles Police Department officers in July died on Tuesday, and the California Department of Justice is investigating the shooting, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Wednesday.
Samuel Soto, 53, was shot multiple times by LAPD officers on July 26, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Soto was initially shot while holding a knife, but after he dropped the knife, officers who had just arrived to the scene in Pico-Union opened fire anew, striking Soto again, the Times reported.
The wounds he sustained in the shooting “ultimately resulted” in Soto’s death on Tuesday, according to a statement from Bonta, and the shooting is being investigated under Assembly Bill 1506.
“Under AB 1506, the California Department of Justice is required by law to investigate all incidents of an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian in the state,” a release from Bonta’s office reads.
The Attorney General’s office declined to provide more information, but in its Wednesday statement said the California Department of Justice’s Special Prosecutions Section within the Criminal Law Division will independently review potential criminal charges once the investigation is complete.
