The incident occurred on the morning of July 14, when officers responded to a call of a man with a "possible assault rifle" on Spence Street, near Eighth Street, the LAPD said in a statement.
"Upon arrival, officers observed the suspect, identified as 26-year-old Jeremy Anthony Flores, in the driver's seat of a white utility van, parked to the rear of 1200 Spence Street, holding an assault rifle," a police news release said. "Additional resources were requested as Flores was ordered to exit the vehicle and drop the weapon; however, he refused to follow commands, raised the rifle, and an Officer-Involved Shooting (OIS) occurred."
Man shot and killed by police had BB gun replica of rifle, LAPD says
A SWAT team was summoned to the scene, where officers deployed an aerial drone equipped with a video camera to look inside the van. The footage shows Flores slumped over and unresponsive after being shot.
SWAT officers approached the vehicle, opened the passenger-side door and removed the replica rifle before Flores was extricated. He was pronounced dead at the scene after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds.
The day after the shooting, family members and community leaders held a rally to protest the shooting.
"He didn't deserve what happened to him," Flores' sister, Lindsay Palma, said tearfully. "What they did to him was not OK.
"He had a bucket list that he made while he was in jail," Palma added. "He wanted to go to church and he wanted to change."
That same day, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said at a police commission meeting that he had asked the department's Critical Incident Review Division to examine officer-involved shooting cases from 2024 and 2025. The review found a rise in what he called "intermediate force" weapons -- such as beanbag rounds or stun guns -- which are designed to incapacitate suspects.
"This suggests that officers are actively attempting to de-escalate situations whenever possible, and are turning to intermediate force options in an effort to avoid using deadly force," McDonnell said.