2 Southern California cops indicted in 2018 fatal shooting of Black man
The indictment follows a vow from Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon to hold police responsible for unlawful shootings.
Two Torrance police officers were indicted Thursday, April 13, in the fatal shooting of a Black man sitting in a suspected stolen car in 2018, a killing that sparked months of protests in the community by Black Lives Matter activists, according to a defense attorney for one of the officers.
Attorney Tom Yu confirmed that a Los Angeles County grand jury returned the indictments, but he said he wasn’t aware of the specific charges against Officers Anthony Chavez and Matthew Concannon in the killing of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell.
Yu, who represents Chavez, said both men are scheduled to be arraigned Monday at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles.
The grand jury convened in March to consider evidence against Chavez and Concannon presented by special prosecutor Lawrence Middleton.
Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey previously found that the officers acted legally and in self-defense in the Mitchell shooting. However, the investigation was reopened in 2021 by her successor, progressive District Attorney George Gascon, who vowed during his campaign to aggressively reexamine shootings and use-of-force cases involving police officers.
The District Attorney’s Office declined Thursday to confirm the indictment against Chavez and Concannon. “We cannot comment on the existence of an indictment,” the office said in a statement.
Sgt. Ron Salary, a spokesperson for the Torrance Police Department, said he could not disclose the employment status of Chavez and Concannon. Instead, he told the Southern California News Group it would have to file a public records request with the city to obtain that information.
Mitchell, 23, was confronted in the parking lot of a Carson Street supermarket in Old Torrance as he sat behind the wheel of a car that had been reported stolen. Between his legs was what appeared to be a firearm, but was actually a modified air rifle, reports said.
As officers approached the car, they told Mitchell to keep his hands on the steering wheel, but he instead moved them toward his lap, according to the previous report by prosecutors who cleared police. Officers also told Mitchell to get out of the car, but he refused, the report said.
Officers fired three times at Mitchell. The shooting was captured on video by Concannon’s body-worn camera. Just 12 seconds passed from the time the officer activated his camera as he opened Mitchell’s car door to the time of the first shot.
“Based on Mitchell’s failure to follow the officers’ directions, his continued efforts to conceal the object in his lap, the physical appearance of the object, and the movement of his hands toward the object, it was reasonable for the officers to believe that the object was a firearm and to respond with deadly force,” the report said.
The shooting drew widespread protests at City Council meetings from Black Lives Matter activists who demanded that police release the video of the deadly encounter and, later, that the officers be held accountable. Mitchell’s mother, Sherlyn Haynes, publicly accused the officers of murdering her son, insisting that the video showed he was being cooperative.
Concannon and Chavez have been tied to other on-duty shootings as well.
Concannon was involved in the 2011 nonfatal shooting of Jeremiah Banks during a vehicle pursuit. Banks received a 15-year prison sentence after he was subsequently convicted on two counts of robbery and one count of felony evading, but also received a $100,000 settlement from the city after filing a lawsuit while incarcerated.
Chavez was one of five Torrance officers exonerated by the District Attorney’s Office for their roles in the fatal 2017 shooting of a San Gabriel man shot 23 times in the wake of a high-speed pursuit.
Chavez and Concannon also are reportedly linked to racist and homophobic text messages sent among Torrance officers and under investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office. At least four Torrance officers involved in the texting scandal have been terminated by the department.
Staff writer Tony Saavedra contributed to this report.