Dijon Kizzee’s murder reignites BLMLA protests
On Wednesday Sept. 2, BLMLA held a protest in front of city hall in the name of Dijon Kizzee, the 29-year-old shot over 20 times by LA Sheriff deputies after being chased down in the South Los Angeles neighborhood of Westmont.
While the LA sector of the organization holds weekly protests against DA Jackie Lacey, Wednesday’s was in honor of Kizzee’s death and was live streamed for those who were unable to attend.
The group called for justice for Kizzee and to arrest the cops who killed him. They also said they stand “In honor of the 619 lives stolen by law enforcement under DA Jackie Lacey and her refusal to prosecute killer cops.”
One of the speakers said, “We’re not going to let Dijon’s name be in vain, we will not allow that.” The speaker then asked the crowd to vote, and to keep showing up.
Another speaker said that, “It is a damn shame every week somebody is being shot down.”
This energy was also stirred up on the night of Kizzee’s death.
The events originally began when “two deputies from the South Los Angeles station were driving on Budlong Avenue at 3:15 p.m. when they spotted a man [Kizzee] riding his bicycle in violation of vehicle codes,” according to the LA Times. “[Lieutenant] Dean said he didn’t know which vehicle codes the man allegedly broke.”
When the Sheriff deputies tried to stop Kizzee, he dropped the bike and ran.
The LA Times reported that “Kizzee struck a deputy in the face in the incident Monday afternoon,” before the cops began shooting.
Other reports inform that a “semi-automatic handgun was dropped in the bundle” that Kizzee was carrying,” prompting the deputy and his partner to deploy their weapons.
According to ABC7, “‘The suspect made a motion toward the firearm,’ the department said in the statement. The firearm is described as a black semi-automatic handgun.”
The Times also noted that, “Neither deputy was wearing a body camera, according to [Lieutenant] Dean. Unlike the Los Angeles Police Department, the Sheriff’s Department has yet to equip its officers with body cameras.”
According to the U.S. Sun, “Lieutenant Dean said he was unable to confirm how many times Kizzee had been struck by bullets saying, “We still have to conduct our interviews of the investigating officers to see exactly what happened and transpired during the deputy-involved-shooting.”
The Sun also noted that when Lieutenant Dean was asked if the department thought there was any unnecessary use of force used, he said that, “If this individual was reaching for a semi-automatic handgun, I would suggest that, you know, that’s probably why deadly force was important.”
Because of what transpired on Monday, BLMLA called people to the site of the shooting on 109th and Budlong street, where his body lay uncovered in the street seven hours after the incident. BLMLA organizers also live streamed the original protest while at the site of the shooting, and stood in solidarity with his family.
During the livestream, one of the protesters asked the crowd, “Are we here because there are cameras right now, or are we here for Dijon Kizzee?” The protester continued and said “we should do the most that we can to uplift his family who [is] grieving right now.”
Although, the family of Kizzee asked the crowd of protesters to quiet down and to respect him and his body.