Police Meeting with Community Leaders to Discuss Fatal Shooting

Pasadena Police spokesperson Lt. Phlunté Riddle said today a meeting is being held Tuesday afternoon between Chief of Police Phillip L. Sanchez and “community leaders” to discuss the fatal shooting Saturday night of Kendrec Lavelle McDade, 20, of Azusa.

Riddle said that members of the public and the press cannot attend, and would not disclose the meeting’s location. At least one person invited to attend said the meeting is being held at Pasadena Police headquaters building on Garfield Ave.

Spokespersons of various Pasadena churches and civil rights organizations have been calling for more transparency since the shooting became known.

On Sunday, NAACP Pasadena Branch President Joe Brown said he  met with Pasadena Chief of Police Phillip L. Sanchez that morning about 8:30 a.m. for a briefing about the incident.

“He’s being a little too selective about what he wants to say,” Brown said. “That’s just not good for this community.”

Since then, little new information has been released about the incident as police and other agencies conduct investigations.

What is now known is that  the officers were responding to a call of an armed robbery that had occurred shortly after 11 p.m. near the intersection of Summit Avenue and Orange Grove Blvd.

The victim followed two suspects while calling the police on his cell phone. The suspects ran in different directions trying to evade the victim.

Police say two officers immediately arrived and saw one suspect running near Fair Oaks Avenue and Orange Grove Blvd.

The officers pursued the suspect north on Sunset Avenue from Orange Grove Blvd and as they neared him, police say the officers “observed his hands at his waistband. Fearing for their lives they fired multiple shots striking the suspect.”

Riddle said Tuesday that as of now, no weapon had been located at the scene of the Sunset Ave. shooting or as the result of through checks along the route taken by the fleeing suspects during the incident.

The suspect was transported to local area hospital where he died.

Detectives notified the family at the hospital and the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Investigator responded and took possession of the body.

Anyone having information regarding the robbery or shooting is asked to contact the Pasadena Police Department at (626) 744-4241