Attorney questions back wound for man killed by LA deputy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The attorney for the family of an unarmed man fatally shot by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy today questioned why one of two gunshot wounds was in the man's upper back after police said he charged them.

"If this man is charging at you, if he's running toward you, how is it that he's shot in the back? How is that?" family attorney Brian Dunn told reporters at a news conference. "That is an example of the falseness that has been told to this family."

Sheriff's Lt. John Corina said in a telephone interview that one of 27-year-old Donnell Thompson Jr.'s wounds was in his upper left shoulder blade because the deputy who shot him on July 28 in Compton was positioned up to 10 feet above him at close range in the turret of an armored car.

That high firing angle is what allowed the bullet to reach Thompson's shoulder blade, Corina said, dismissing the family attorney's speculation about the wound.

At the time of the shooting, the department said deputies suspected Thompson in a carjacking and of shooting at police. In a stunning announcement Tuesday, they said no evidence connected Thompson to those crimes and no weapon was found.