UNDER ATTACK?

LAPD Officer in Fatal Costco Shooting Was Knocked Out Before Firing Gun: Attorney

The unnamed officer’s attorney, David Winslow, said his client had “no other option” than to resort to “deadly force.”

The Los Angeles Police Department officer who fatally shot a man in a Southern California Costco store on Friday was acting in self-defense after being knocked out, the cop’s attorney said. The unnamed officer was holding his 1 1/2-year-old child and feeding him samples of chicken teriyaki when shooting victim Kenneth French attacked him from behind, lawyer David Winslow said. The officer was allegedly knocked unconscious from the assault, and when he came to, he fired the gun to defend himself and his son, The Orange County Register reports. After falling to the floor, the officer had “no other option to defend himself and his son” and had to resort to “deadly force,” Winslow said. French, a mentally disabled man who’s been described by family members as being “non-violent, non-aggressive, non-verbal,” died from the shooting, and his parents remain in intensive care at a hospital after also being struck by gunfire. Winslow said his client was unaware French had a disability.