LAPD Defends Halloween Party Shooting

Oct. 30 -- A witness to the fatal police shooting of a Halloween partygoer who was carrying a fake gun says the officer did “nothing” to identify himself or warn the victim before firing.

“It was completely unexpected,” said Erik Quisling, who was just a few feet from Anthony Dwain Lee when the 39-year-old actor was shot at a Los Angeles-area party early Saturday morning.

Quisling told ABCNEWS’ Good Morning America today that Lee may have thought the officer was just another guest in costume.

“I saw several partygoers dressed as police officers,” Quisling said.

Questions Over Racial Profiling

Quisling is one of a chorus of witnesses and friends of Lee who are decrying the shooting at the Benedict Canyon mansion in the hills above West Los Angeles. Some have raised the question of whether Lee may have been a victim of racial profiling.

Lee was black, as is the officer involved in the incident, Tarriel Hopper.

Police Chief Bernard C. Parks on Mondayblamed a realistic-looking prop gun for the fatal police shootingof an actor at a weekend costume party.  Hopper, who fired nine shots at Lee through awindow of a West Los Angeles mansion after seeing him raise whatlooked like a gun, had “no time” to find out if the weapon wasreal or to shout a warning, the chief said at a news conference.

Hopper, 27, who has been with the department forthree years, has been placed on paid leave while the LAPD andcounty district attorney’s office investigate the death.

Parks today displayed Lee’s prop gun, which he said was madeof solid gray rubber in the shape of an Israeli-made .357-caliber DesertEagle semiautomatic handgun.

Parks said such replicas — often used as movie props — have ledto at least seven recent officer-involved shootings. He did notelaborate and left the news conference without answering questions.

“Whether it’s a Halloween party, on the street or at a robbery… we can’t take for granted that [a gun] is a replica,” Parkssaid.