Seven of the shots fired by deputies struck Kizzee on his back side, including arms and hands, said Attorney Carl Douglas. The fatal shot struck Kizzee in lung.
“He did not die instantly, he was writhing on the ground in pain when officers opened up on him,” Douglas said.
“You can tell by the audio of the shooting that there were three or four shots, and then a pause, and 15 additional shots.”
“He was shot 19 times and I can care less what Sheriff Villanueva said seeking to justify that lack of humanity,” Douglas said in response. “Nineteen times of firing into a man’s body says to me that there’s been poor training.”
LASD said it had no comment regarding the private autopsy results.
Last week, LASD Homicide Bureau Capt. Kent Wegener said the autopsy report has not yet been finalized by the coroner’s office. The LA County medical examiner’s office confirmed earlier this month that Kizzee died from gunshot wounds and his death was ruled a homicide.
Deputies first attempted to stop Kizzee on August 31 for “riding a bicycle on the wrong side of the road” and “splitting traffic,” Wegener said in a news conference last Thursday. Kizzee refused to stop, abandoned his bicycle, and fled on foot with a green towel in one hand and a red and black jacket in the other hand, he said.
Kizzee’s 9mm semi-automatic pistol, which was reported stolen in 2017, fell to the ground during the encounter with deputies. Wegener said Kizzee bent over and reached back to pick up the pistol before deputies fired. The gun was loaded with 15 live rounds.
Benjamin Crump, another attorney representing the Kizzee family, said last week that video footage of the incident contradicts the sheriff’s department’s findings.
Kizzee’s shooting sparked protests in a city that has already seen months-long unrest following the late May death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.
“It’s happening so fast we can barely keep up with the hashtags,” Crump said Tuesday of police shootings of Black people, evoking Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake.
“While America is dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, we in Black America are dealing with the 1619 pandemic.”
CNN’s Saba Hamedy, Alexandra Meeks and Jon Passantino contributed to this report.