Police can be seen pointing their weapons at the homeless man in Los Angeles in a video posted to Facebook.
[From article]
When a black homeless man was shot dead by police on Skid Row on Sunday, the shooting was seen as yet another example of white policemen in the United States being too quick to reach for their guns. But the full story behind the man's death – and his remarkable life – has emerged as something far more complex.
The 39-year-old identified by police after his death as Charley Saturmin Robinet was actually using a fake identity, stolen from a Frenchman, to try and make a career in Hollywood.
The man known to his Skid Row friends as "Africa" or "Cameroon" had stolen Mr Robinet's identity, and in the late 1990s used it to acquire a French passport to come to the United States. He moved to Los Angeles, and, according to the Los Angeles Times, began taking acting classes at the Beverly Hills Playhouse – a drama school whose alumni include George Clooney, Michelle Pfeiffer and Alec Baldwin.
But he struggled to pay the fees, and in 2000 was arrested after holding up a bank in the LA suburb of Thousand Oaks.
Wearing a ski mask and armed with a gun, the man burst into a Wells Fargo Bank and ordered everyone down on the floor. He jumped the counter and demanded money from a teller. He dragged the bank teller to the vault, and when the teller didn't have the key to open it, he pistol-whipped and kicked him, court documents state.
[. . .]
When he was shot on Sunday police identified him from his fingerprints, which matched those of the bank heist committed by "Charley Robinet" in 2000.[. . .]
But French authorities came forward late on Tuesday and said that Robinet is a law-abiding citizen who is "alive and well in France."
Axel Cruau, the French consul general in Los Angeles, told the LA Times that the identity theft was discovered after the man was convicted of the bank robbery, and officials began preparing the paperwork to deport him, thinking he was a French citizen. French officials notified their US counterparts when they realised the man was not the real Robinet – but did not know what happened after that.
Mr Cruau said his office had contacted LAPD officials on Tuesday to let know the man identified as Robinet was an impostor.
"He fooled a lot of people – including us – years ago," said Mr Cruau.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11448767/LA-homeless-man-shot-dead-by-police-had-stolen-Frenchmans-identity-to-follow-Hollywood-dream.html
LA homeless man shot dead by police had stolen Frenchman's identity to follow Hollywood dream
A homeless man shot dead by police in Los Angeles was a convicted bank robber – who arrived in Hollywood hoping to make it as an actor after stealing Frenchman's identity
By Harriet Alexander, and Nick Allen in Los Angeles
11:56AM GMT 04 Mar 2015
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