Police Shooting Triggers Violent Face-Off in Anaheim

The fatal shooting of an unarmed man by police in Anaheim, Calif., has two police officers on paid leave and a community in an uproar, reports the Los Angeles Times. Two cops approached three men in an alley Saturday. Two of those men drove off, but the third, Manuel Diaz, a reported gang member, threw something onto a rooftop and ran. That led to a chase and the shooting. Three hours later, Diaz died of his wounds in a hospital.

As police investigated the scene of the shooting, local residents surrounded the investigators, throwing bottles and apparently rocks at them, and even pushing a burning dumpster toward them. Police responded with rubber bullets and pepper balls, and a police dog threatened a woman with a baby carriage (police say the dog was released from the squad car by accident). Yesterday, more neighborhood residents descended on the Anaheim police headquarters, shouting: "No justice, no peace" and "cops, pigs, murderers." Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait has called for a full investigation. "Transparency is essential," he said. "Whatever the truth is, we will own it." (More Anaheim stories.)