We know there are two sides — actually many more — to each story.

But if true, we have to really have to urge anyone thinking about it never do this: Police say a man drove up to two officers, screamed at them, waved a gun at them and reached for his waistband as one cop trained a shotgun at him. This happened on the 20th anniversary of the Rodney King beating.

The result, as you can imagine, was tragic:

The suspect was shot in the upper torso, handcuffed, and pronounced dead at the scene, according tot he LAPD.

It happened about 11 last night at Florence and Raymond avenues, police told the Weekly Friday.


View Larger Map

That's not far from the ignition point of the L.A. riots (Florence and Normandie avenues), which erupted after four officers accused of beating motorist Rodney King were acquitted in April, 1992.

The King incident happened 20 years ago the same day as the officer-involved shooting — Thursday.

There's no indication the confrontation was related to King, however, an LAPD spokeswoman told us. “Anything's possible,” she said. What the man was yelling was “all part of the investigation” and under wraps for now, she said.

Two officers were working crime suppression and had stopped a pedestrian when the suspect allegedly drove up and started honking his car horn and yelling profanities at the cops before getting out and waving a handgun, according to an LAPD statement.

As one of the pair moved the patrol car the other walked to its trunk and pulled out a duty shotgun and trained it on the man who allegedly continued to “cream obscenities at them” even after he put the gun on the roof of his car, according to the department.

When he reached for his waistband, the officer with the shotgun pulled the trigger.

City News Service identified the suspect as Roger Christopher Williams, 41.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.