Activists Demand Release Of Security Video Of Fatal Shooting Of Unarmed Homeless Man

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A group of activists Tuesday were demanding the LAPD release security video of a deadly police shooting of an unarmed homeless man in Venice.

The video reportedly shows the May 6 shooting of 29-year-old Brendon Glenn during an altercation with two officers.

"Release the video tape. We want to make sure there's transparency in the investigation," activist Najee Ali said.

In an exclusive interview with CBS2's Pat Harvey, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said the video was not released due to various reasons including the integrity of the investigation.

"There's a number of reasons it's not being released. One, it is a piece of evidence. It's not a totality of the investigation. It's a strong piece of evidence that has to be viewed in the context of the other pieces of evidence," he said.

Beck drew criticism from the police union after announcing during a news conference prior to the investigation that he was "very troubled" by the video that captured the incident.

"So, you don't regret saying what you said?" Harvey asked Beck.

He replied, "No, because I think it was important to not only the organization but to the community that they know the chief of police has concerns with this shooting."

The officers' names have not been released to the public due to safety concerns, but Beck says he felt the need to disclose that both the shooting officer and Glenn are black.

"Race has become a great issue nationally in policing. Every tagline of every story is about the race of the officer and the race of the person the officer came in contact with. I knew that this would be asked. I knew it would part of the story, and I put it forth."

The officers remained assigned to home with pay during the investigation.