- Title: LAPD and Snoop Dogg call for calm after Dallas shootings
- Date: 8th July 2016
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 8, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EXTERIOR OF LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT (LAPD) NEWS CONFERENCE WITH LAPD CHIEF CHARLIE BECK, LOS ANGELES MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI, RAPPERS SNOOP DOGG AND THE GAME (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAPD CHIEF CHARLIE BECK, SAYING: "The tragedy that has unfolded over this past week, you know, seeing yet again shootings that bring to the community focus policing, and then to see this unprecedented tragedy in Dallas where an assassin, and that is all that that person can be called, attacks people that are actually defending the First Amendment. Those police officers are there not necessarily because they agree with the cause but because they agree with your ability to express your opinion and your cause and they are struck down for that and that is a crime against America, so yes, it does upset me." REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAPD CHIEF CHARLIE BECK, SAYING: "Well part of the reason that you see the group of people before you today is that we want to stop it from happening here and that's exactly the point of this press conference which is to say that LA is not about violence, that the police department in LA is not about violence, that these entertainment moguls who stand with me here who represent a huge swathe of Los Angeles are not about violence and that we want to use our leadership positions -- mine as police chief, the mayor is the city of Los Angeles to say that." END OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) RAPPER, SNOOP DOGG, SAYING: "I feel awesome about today. This is the beginning and dialogue and communication is key. We're off to a great start. Thank you Chief, thank you Mayor." BECK LEAVING AFTER NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) RAPPER, THE GAME, SAYING: "I said it's not about having anger because I'm still angry, we're all angry for different reasons, it's how you channel your anger. And to me as an individual, today I chose to channel my anger positively and this is what the outcome is." CROWD GATHERED/SNOOP DOGG BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) RAPPER, SNOOP DOGG, SAYING: "I mean I feel you. I was once that angry young man or young civilian so it's just crazy. We're trying to be the bridge because the people got a lot of questions that they want answered but a lot of time they don't listen, like they just talking right now. They've got to understand that sometimes you've got to listen and sometimes the information isn't meant to be delivered until it is fully. We don't have the full information right now, we're just at the beginning. This is the first step. We were able to come here and get a conversation with them [Beck, Garcetti]. Who would have thought that could happen? So the next step is following up and seeing what can we do to put things in motion." CROWD GATHERED/SNOPP DOGG MORE OF CROWD GATHERED OUTSIDE LAPD (SOUNDBITE) (English) COMPTON RESIDENT AND RAPPER, 2DYE4, SAYING: "I mean, it's got to stop. You know what I'm saying? And you know you can only do so much to people till somebody got to fight back. You know, I mean you can only put so many people up against the wall and put them in the corner to where ... You know you can do a dog like that, they gonna bite. So now is the time, either stop or it's gonna.. you already see pretty much what's going on." (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOS ANGELES RESIDENT, JAMES, SAYING: "I'm hurt bro, honestly. I'm angered but at the same time you've got to learn you've got to learn how to compose yourself too and be able to address the situation with the proper state of mind and not with so much animosity and that's the only way we can talk things out and make things happen the right way that we want to without having to be physical." VARIOUS OF FLAGS FLYING AT HALF MAST OUTSIDE LAPD
- Embargoed: 22nd July 2016 21:44
- Keywords: shooting Dallas Eric Garcetti The Game Snoop Dogg Charlie Beck LAPD Los Angeles
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Arts / Culture / Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA0014PTWOCN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and Mayor Eric Garcetti on Friday (July 8) held talks with rappers Snoop Dogg and The Game to call for calm in the aftermath of the police shootings in Dallas, Texas.
A black U.S. Army reservist who served in the Afghan war and said he wanted to "kill white people" took part in an attack on Thursday night in which five police officers were shot dead at a protest decrying police shootings of black men, officials said.
"We want to stop it from happening here and that's exactly the point of this press conference which is to say that LA is not about violence, that the police department in LA is not about violence, that these entertainment moguls who stand with me here who represent a huge swathe of Los Angeles are not about violence," Beck told reporters after his meeting with Snoop Dogg and The Game.
"I feel awesome about today. This is the beginning and dialogue and communication is key. We're off to a great start. Thank you chief, thank you mayor," said Snoop Dogg. Both rappers are Los Angeles-area natives.
Seven other police officers and two civilians were wounded in the ambush in downtown Dallas on Thursday night, officials said. Police killed the gunman, identified by a U.S. government source as Micah Xavier Johnson, with a bomb-carrying robot after cornering him in a parking lot, ending an hours-long standoff.
The sound of gunfire from a high-powered rifle sent a panicked crowd of hundreds of protesters screaming and running for their lives near the end of a march to protest police killings of black men this week in Minnesota and Louisiana. Police officers at the time believed they were under attack by several gunmen in multiple locations.
The Dallas attack came after police killings in Louisiana and Minnesota triggered protests over police use of force against black suspects and racial disparities in the American criminal justice system. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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