LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners will consider today whether an officer-involved shooting that resulted in the death of a hostage was in accordance with the city's polices.
Three LAPD officers were involved in the June 2018 fatal shooting of Guillermo Perez, 32, and Elizabeth Tollison, 49, in Van Nuys.
About 1 p.m. June 16, 2018, police responded to a 911 call about a man stabbing his ex-girlfriend and threatening a woman at a homeless outreach center at Central Lutheran Church in the 6400 block of Tyrone Avenue. According to body camera footage released by police, Perez engaged in a standoff with officers as he held a knife to Tollison's throat, refusing orders to drop the weapon.
According to LAPD Chief Michel Moore, an officer fired a beanbag shotgun during the standoff but it failed to stop Perez. Officers fired their handguns 18 times as Perez allegedly pressed the knife into Tollison's neck. The shots killed Perez. Tollison was shot in the head and shoulder and died days later in a hospital.
Tollison's husband and adult children have sued the LAPD for wrongful death.
The lawsuit filed by Tollison's husband, DeWayne Holt, claims the officers should have known that Perez was “mentally ill, emotionally disturbed and/or undergoing a mental health crisis.”
Moore said at the time the department planned to review its “less lethal” weapon options and training procedures following two officer-involved shootings that resulted in civilians being killed by police gunfire.