Prosecutors charge man accused of wounding LAPD officer during gun battle streamed on Facebook
A man accused of wounding a Los Angeles officer during a shootout with police — and streaming some of the gunfight in a video on Facebook — was charged this week with more than a dozen felonies, court records show.
Qasim Knox, who was also injured in the shooting, faces a total of 19 charges, including multiple counts of attempted murder or assault of a peace officer. The 25-year-old was also charged with murder in connection with a March 31 killing in South L.A. — an investigation that led to the shootout with police eight days ago.
Knox has not yet made an appearance in court, missing hearings that were scheduled for this week, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office said.
The SWAT officer wounded in the shooting, described as a 20-year veteran of the LAPD, is recovering at home, Chief Charlie Beck said this week. The officer was shot in the hip, though Beck said he was spared from a more serious injury because the round ricocheted off some of his gear.
Knox was one of four suspects detectives were looking for as part of their investigation into the South L.A. homicide, the LAPD has said. Court records show he was one of four men sought in the killing of Whitney Yorke, a 32-year-old man shot as he sat in a chair outside a Jefferson Park home.
On June 29, as police were serving warrants in connection with the homicide, they noticed Knox driving a blue vehicle. The vehicle took off, with the police in pursuit.
The chase wound its way down to the South Bay, where, police said, Knox bailed from his car and ran through an apartment complex near El Segundo and Aviation boulevards. LAPD detectives and SWAT officers, along with Hawthorne police, ran after him, Beck said.
Knox fired multiple rounds at the officers, who returned fire, Beck said. Residents of the complex described a dramatic scene, with bullets whizzing by and loud bursts of gunfire.
At some point, Knox pulled out a cell phone and began filming himself, putting the footage on his Facebook page, authorities said. A portion of the footage aired by NBC4 shows him shouting into the camera: “It’s over with. It’s over with. … They got me.”
Police said they found a loaded gun at the scene after Knox was taken into custody.
Prosecutors also charged Knox with being a felon in possession of a gun and ammunition, noting in court records that he was convicted of robbery in 2014.
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