Deshawn Trenton Adams, 24

Gardena, California
July 22, 2007

Agencies: Gardena Police Department California

Cause of death: Not Yet Known


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Last updated: almost 6 years ago

Overview

Deshawn Adams, 24, a black man, was shot six times by Gardena police officers in front of the Yoshinoya restaurant at 1825 W. Redondo Beach Blvd. in Gardena, at about 6 a.m. Sunday, July 22. He died about an hour later at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Sheriff's Lt. Larry Lincoln said Adams walked into this Yoshinoya restaurant, open 24 hours, and menaced customers and employees with a gun. He hit one employee, a woman, in the head twice with the gun, and took a bag of money. Someone was able to hit a robbery-alarm button as this was going on. Several Gardena units responded. Two Gardena police officers confronted him as he walked out of the restaurant with the money. They said Adams produced the handgun, Lincoln said, and the officers shot him. Adams' gun turned out to be a replica -- so authentic-looking that "we thought it was a real firearm until we took it to the lab," Lincoln said.