State investigates fatal Covina police shooting under law on killings of unarmed civilians

The California Department of Justice is investigating a fatal Covina police shooting that occurred last weekend, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said Monday.

The shooting was reported about 10:10 p.m. Saturday after police responded to a liquor store in the 100 block of East Arrow Highway, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said.

The Sheriff’s Department is assisting the Covina Police Department with its investigation.

Police shot a man during a confrontation in front of the store, officials said. The man was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The man, who was in his 20s, has been identified by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, but his name was being withheld as of Monday evening pending notification of family.

Sheriff’s Department officials did not say what prompted the shooting. The department notified the state Department of Justice about the shooting.

“Following notification by local authorities, the California Department of Justice’s California Police Shooting Investigation Team for Southern California deployed to the scene of the incident,” the attorney general’s office said Monday in a news release.

The Department of Justice’s investigation is prompted by AB 1506, which requires the department to investigate police shootings that result in the death of an unarmed civilian.

“We’ve been directly engaging with law enforcement across the state on the new law and sent an information bulletin last year reminding local authorities to notify our office whenever there is any doubt as to whether a case may fall under AB 1506,” the attorney general’s office said Monday in an email. “We ultimately investigate the incidents that are determined to qualify.”

The investigation will be turned over to the Department of Justice’s special prosecutions section after it is completed.

Covina police referred The Times’ call regarding the shooting to the Department of Justice.