Family searches for answers after double amputee is killed by police

The family of Anthony Lowe is searching for answers after he was shot and killed by police in the Southern California city of Huntington Park.

Videos of Lowe’s shooting purportedly capture the moments before the shooting death of the double-amputee man holding a knife after a stabbing attack. His killing has raised questions about whether police used excessive force.

Anthony Lowe police shooting incident

On Thursday (Jan. 26th) afternoon, Huntington Park Police Department officers responded to a report of a stabbing, the department said in a statement Monday. Responding officers found a victim suffering from “a life-threatening stab wound resulting in a collapsed lung and internal bleeding,” the statement said.

The victim described the attacker as a Black man in a wheelchair who “dismounted the wheelchair, ran to the victim without provocation, and stabbed him in the side of the chest with a 12″ butcher knife” and then fled the scene in his wheelchair, HPPD said.

During their search, police found the alleged suspect a few blocks away holding a 12-inch butcher knife, HPPD said. The suspect allegedly ignored officer commands and threatened to “advance or throw the knife,” and officers used two separate Tasers to try and subdue the suspect but failed, HPPD said.

“The suspect continued to threaten officers with the butcher knife, resulting in an officer-involved shooting,” HPPD said. It was not immediately clear how many officers were present or shot the suspect.

The alleged suspect was struck by gunfire in the upper torso, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in an initial statement. He died at the scene.

The involved officers have been placed on paid administrative leave pending ongoing investigations from HPPD, the sheriff’s department’s Homicide Bureau and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, HPPD said.

Family searches for answers

While authorities have not named the shooting victim, the family identified 36-year-old Anthony Lowe.

“The way they killed my son, they murdered my son in a wheelchair with no legs,” Dorothy Lowe, Anthony Lowe’s mother, said at a news conference. “So they do need to do something about it, because I do I want justice for my son.”

Officers fired 10 rounds at Lowe. His family says he lost his legs during a prior confrontation with police.

Huntington Park cops reportedly do not wear bodycams, and officials said they don’t yet intend to release additional footage of the incident from nearby surveillance cameras.