Skid Row Shooting Victim Had Stolen Identity

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By Sky News US Team

A homeless man who was killed by Los Angeles police on Skid Row was living under an assumed name after stealing the identity of a Frenchman.

Initially the victim killed by police after a confrontation caught on camera was identified as 39-year-old Charley Saturmin Robinet.

But the French consul general in Los Angeles subsequently said the man was not a French citizen and had stolen Mr Robinet's identity before travelling to the US under an apparently fraudulent passport in the late 1990s.

The man seemingly wanted to "pursue a career in acting" in America, Consul General Axel Cruau said.

"The real Charley Robinet is in France apparently living a totally normal life and totally unaware his identity had been stolen years and years ago," Mr Cruau added.

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Gallery: Skid Row Shooting Sparks Protests

The shooting of a homeless man by Los Angeles police stirred an uproar among civil rights activists and fellow Skid Row residents

The man was known as Africa on Skid Row. Continue through for more images

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Using the name of Robinet, the man was identified as a French national in 2000 when he was convicted of robbing a Wells Fargo branch and pistol-whipping an employee in an effort to pay for acting classes at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.

The man identified as Robinet was sentenced to 15 years in prison and was freed in May under a three-year supervised-release order.

Foreign nationals are typically deported after serving criminal sentences. But in this case, France would not take the man because he was not really a French citizen.

He is believed to have violated his probation terms, which required him to provide reports to his probation officer at the beginning of each month.

When he failed to do so in November, December and January, a federal warrant was issued.

On Skid Row, he was known as Africa.

The shooting on Sunday, caught on video by a bystander, outraged civil rights activists and fellow residents of Skid Row, an area where homeless people pitch tents at night and cardboard shelters cover the sidewalks.

It was the latest in a string of incidents that have put law enforcement agencies across the country under scrutiny over the use of lethal force.

Critics said the shooting highlighted heavy-handed tactics routinely used by police in dealing with homeless people, many of whom suffer psychiatric problems.

Police Chief Charlie Beck said all officers involved had been trained in handling mental illness, and appeared to have "acted compassionately up until the time that force was required".

Police said the man was shot when he grabbed for an officer's holstered gun during a scuffle.

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