Man Shot Dead at Costco by Off-Duty LAPD Officer Identified
An off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer shopping with his family at a Costco in Corona was allegedly assaulted by a man, whose family says he had a mental disability, and the off-duty officer responded by shooting and killing the man and shooting and injuring two of the man's family members.
The only weapon involved in the incident belonged to the off-duty police officer, who has yet to be identified, the Corona Police Department said in a statement released Saturday.
The shooting took place on Friday at around 7:46 p.m. in the 400 block of North McKinley Street, the Corona Police Department said. Thirty-two-year-old Kenneth French, of Riverside, was identified Saturday as the person killed in the incident.
French's cousin, Rick Shureih, told NBC Los Angeles Sunday that French had a mental disability and described him as a "gentle giant." Shureih said that French was non-verbal, non-violent and had no issues in the past. The two other people injured in the shooting were French's mother and father, who monitored and took care of their son, Shureih said.
The two injured family members of the dead man were not identified but both were in the hospital in critical condition, the CPD said in the statement released Saturday.
Shureih said Sunday that Russell and Paola French were both shot at least once, with Russell doing much better.
Although fears of an active shooter sent the store into a panic, authorities said the investigation concluded that this was an "isolated occurrence" and that it "was not an uncontained active shooter incident."
Unprovoked, a man unknown to the off-duty officer and his family assaulted the officer while he was holding a small child, the Corona Police Department said in Saturday's statement. The child was not injured in the incident, and the officer was taken to a local hospital and subsequently released, police said.
If you witnessed this incident and have not provided your statement to the police, please contact Lieutenant Newman at 951-817-5788 or email Robert.Newman@CoronaCA.gov.
Photo Credit: NBCLA
from NBC New York - Top Stories http://bit.ly/2XaU7G3
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