LAPD shootings up compared with recent years, including two occurring Monday

The scene of a fatal shooting by an officer Sunday in the Sawtelle area near West Los Angeles that left one man dead. Two separate Los Angeles police shootings Monday of men who officers alleged were armed with knives pushed the total number of LAPD shootings this year to 23, according to LAPD data. Though above levels in recent years, the total number of LAPD shootings so far this year remains well below the number of LAPD shootings tallied during similar periods in past decades. The police shootings come amid a general increase in shootings and homicides in L.A. — something LAPD Chief Michel Moore suggested was a contributing factor in police officers using deadly force more often this year during a discussion with the civilian Police Commission on Tuesday morning. In the July 20 incident, officers in the Hollenbeck Division responded to a radio call about a man with a knife, and found a man armed with a butcher knife, Moore said.