US police shooting: Alfred Olango 'pointed e-cigarette'

Police had already acknowledged that the object Mr Olango was holding was not a weapon

Police in California say they shot dead a Ugandan refugee when he pulled an object that turned out to be an e-cigarette from his pocket and pointed it at a police officer.

Dozens of demonstrators have taken to the streets of El Cajon, a suburb of San Diego, in protest at the killing of Alfred Okwera Olanfo, who was 38. Mr Olango was killed on Tuesday after officers responded to a call from his sister who said that he needed help.

Protestors gathered in the suburb after Mr Olango was killed

She said he was mentally unwell. El Cajon police chief Jeff Davis said Mr Olango died after one officer fired an electronic stun gun and another officer simultaneously fired his firearm several times.


Police, who had already acknowledged that the object was not a weapon, confirmed on Wednesday that the object was a three inches (7.6cm) long silver vaping cigarette.

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Christopher Rice-Wilson of the civil rights group Alliance San Diego questioned why one of the officers felt non-lethal force was appropriate while the other did not.

In El Cajon on Wednesday, protestors blocked streets. Outside the police station they chanted "murder, murder". One banner read "no killer cops".

"That could be my little brother," campaigner Mallory Webb told the crowd. "I don't know what to do," she added. "I'm scared to walk the streets every single day."

Agnes Hassan said she knew Mr Olango, whom she described as well-educated but mentally ill. Ms Hassan said she had spent time with him in a refugee camp en route to the United States.

El Cajon is a suburb of San Diego with a population of around 100,000 people, including a sizeable number of refugees, many of whom fled the wars in Iraq and Syria.

Police said the shooting happened outside a row of shops as they responded to a report of a mentally unstable person walking in and out of traffic. The call was apparently made by the victim's sister who said he was "not acting like himself".

El Cajon police department spokesman Lt. Rob Ransweiler said two officers arrived at the scene at about 14:10 (21:10 GMT) on Tuesday and the shooting happened one minute later.

The department says the officers were confronted by a man who refused to comply with instructions to remove a hand from his pocket, paced back and forth, then rapidly drew an object from the pocket, placed both hands together and extended them in a ``shooting stance".

When detectives arrived, police say a witness voluntarily provided a mobile phone video of the incident. Authorities released a single frame from it appearing to show the "shooting stance" but did not release the video itself.