LA Police Releases Video Of Sikh Man Shot Dead While Performing Martial Art With Sword: Trigger Warning

The Los Angeles police in July had shot dead a Sikh man while he was seemingly performing gatka, an ancient martial art form in the middle of the road. The footage of the incident was released by the Los Angeles Police Department recently, that has now gone viral.

The LAPD claimed that Gurpreet Singh, 35, was performing gatka yielding a machete near Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. However, he was shot dead after he allegedly refused to comply with the police and tried to attack the cops. However, the "machete" that he was holding is actually a "khanda"- a double-edged sword that is used while performing the ancient martial art form.

The incident took place on the morning of July 13. The police received a complaint of a man brandishing a two-foot blade at passerbys at a busy intersection near Olympic Boulevard. The bodycam footage of the LAPD officers shows Singh wearing a vest, shorts and a blue turban in the middle of the road, while wielding the sword. The officers claim to have repeatedly instructed him to drop the sword.

"Officers gave multiple commands for Singh to drop the weapon," police said. Police claimed that they opened fire after he ran towards them with the sword. Subsequently, the police rushed him to the hospital where he succumbed to the bullet injuries.