LAPD: Supervisor Who Fatally Shot Man Mistook Bike Part For Gun

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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The Los Angeles Police Department supervisor who fatally shot an unarmed man near the border of Los Angeles and Culver City mistook a bicycle part in his hand for a firearm, the department said Friday.

The Los Angeles Police Department released this image of a bike part that a supervisor mistook for a firearm before he fatally shot the man. (Credit: LAPD)

The fatal shooting happened at about 12:54 p.m. in the area of Sepulveda and Venice boulevards after a field supervisor assigned to the Pacific Patrol Division responded to a call of a "man with a gun."

After the supervisor, identified as Sgt. Colin Langsdale, saw the man on the sidewalk, he stopped his car, got out and observed the suspect pointing the bike — that he believed to be a gun — at him. Langsdale then fired his service weapon, striking the man, and the man fell to the ground.

The man was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center where he later died from his injuries.

The fatal shooting is still under investigation by the LAPD's Force Investigation Division.