LAPD SWAT officer caught saying ‘happy hunting’ on body-cam before fatal police shooting

As members of the Los Angeles Police Department’s SWAT team prepared to confront an armed suspect who had holed up in a downtown apartment building earlier this month, one of the highly trained officers offered a comment to the others. “Gallows humor or otherwise, it doesn’t have a place.” The officer made the remark on the morning of May 3, as officers responded to the 100 block of West 5th Street, where 54-year-old Leron James was in a fifth-floor apartment with a handgun. The comment was made at the “back end of a rescue vehicle with a number of SWAT officers standing by in the initial stages of their response” to the incident, Moore said. Tim Colomey filed a lawsuit alleging the team operates under a “culture of violence” driven by a group of influential members known as the “SWAT Mafia.” California LAPD ‘SWAT Mafia’ encouraged excessive force and retaliation, officer’s suit claims The LAPD’s SWAT unit is controlled by a “SWAT Mafia” that encourages officers to use excessive force, a sergeant’s lawsuit alleges. After they did so, James allegedly came to the window and fired a single round toward officers, and two SWAT officers returned fire, the LAPD said.