L.A. riot video? (gun related)

[TheArchDuke]

I've heard of video that exists of a man defending his property from his roof with an "assault weapon" during the L.A. riots. I've been googling and youtubing for about an hour and can't find it. Could anyone help me out? This would make a pretty good argument against a future AWB in the minds of some of my friends.

 

[Spreadfire Arms]

i remember there was a news video of a Korean shop owner with a headband tied around his head with a semi AK-47 shooting from the roof of his shop.

im not Korean, but i think when the Koreans put on the headbands it is some sign of war or something symbolic of that nature. note to self: stay the hell away from a Korean with a headband!

 

[armedandsafe]

The headband is somewhat symbolic, and may be worn at anytime when one soesn't want one's hair to wander about. I was given one after the festivities were over, although my friends laughed that I didn't need one with my high'n'tight. Wearing one is a sign that one is prepared for any violent or delicate activity that might arise. Being of Celt descent, rather than Oriental, I am sure there is much that I am missing in the culture.

Pops

 

[50 Freak]

I remember watching the videos on TV. They had clips of a Korean store owner standing on his roof with an SKS/AK (don't remember which) watching over his store. Also saw clips of another Korean running out of his looted store with pistol blazing.

Man, those Koreans were serious about defending their homes/livelyhood (some of them have homes above their stores).

If I can ever find my pics, I'll try to post them. I "marched" with the rioters in downtown LA taking pictures during the riots. I lost a lot of the pics as I was teargased right as I was changing film and incorrectly loaded the film. But it definitely was an interesting night.

By the way, I'm Asian and most of the rioters were Blacks and Hispanics. No one gave me trouble, thank god for them as I was armed to the teeth. Boy to be young and stupid again......

 

[torpid]

Yes, if anyone can find pics, please post or link them.

I also have looked in vain, but I absolutely recall the photographs and videos of them protecting their neighborhood from during that time.

 

[HankB]

IIRC, about 60 people were killed during those riots.

What I've looked for - in vain - is anything that gives some sense of the demographics of the dead.

Since I didn't see any tearful human interest stories about " . . . poor innocent little Moesha/Juanita/Becky, killed in the violence that was none of her doing . . . " I suspect that the majority of the dead were rioters & looters who tried to victimize the wrong party (such as one of the Koreans already mentioned) . . . but without more information, all I can do is guess about victim demographics.

 

[PaulBk]

Here ya go ...

What I've looked for - in vain - is anything that gives some sense of the demographics of the dead?

From Wikipedia:
Estimates of the number of lives lost during the unrest vary between 50 and 60, with as many as 2,000 persons injured. Estimates of the material damage done vary between about $800 million and $1 billion. Approximately 3,600 fires were set, destroying 1,100 buildings, with fire calls coming once every minute at some points. About 10,000 people were arrested; about 42% African-American, 44% Hispanic, 9% white, and 2% other. These numbers are proportional to the number of residents in the areas of Los Angeles where the events occurred, although they are not proportional to the racial make-up of Los Angeles as a whole.

From LA Weekly
Gunfire killed 35, including eight people shot by law enforcement and two by National Guardsmen. Six died in arson fires. Attackers used sticks or boards to kill two others. Stabbings killed two. Six died in car accidents; two in hit-and-runs. One was strangled.

The violence crossed racial and ethnic lines. The dead included 25 African-Americans, 16 Latinos, eight whites, two Asians, one Algerian, and one Indian or Middle Easterner. Men outnumbered women, 48 to 5.

http://www.lafire.com/famous_fires/...02-0426/2002-0426_laweekly_TheLA53_Crogan.htm

The wikipedia site has links to still photos, but I haven't ever seen internet videos.

BTW - I was there, up close and personal.

-PB

 

[50 Freak]

Man till the day I die, I will always remember driving to DownTown LA. The palm trees were all burning like matchsticks sticking up. Felt like I was in a bad movie version of hell.

 

[torpid]

Thanks PaulBk.

What a fascinating and sobering read.
It's really depressing to see so many pointlessly wasted lives on one page.

Interesting lessons, too.

These were the listed fatalities, so one would assume there were many more wounded that obviously aren't included in the article. It's really surprising how many single shots hit a vital area (eye, heart, brain aorta, spine).

Also unnerving was the amount of successful random drive-by (and walk up!) murders that were seemingly unprovoked and over and gone almost as soon as they were initiated.

And more than one case of lethal friendly fire, seeming to come from ND's more than mistaken identity I'm feeling. (** edit: Wasn't finished reading when I posted- definitely some mistaken identity shootings too.**)

I too was down in the LA area too back then.
The mile long convoys of police/fire vehicles hauling by with sirens and lights was surreal.

.

 

[torpid]

Okay, more lessons reinforced from that.

During a riot, stay far away from all people (including police) that you don't absolutely trust. Between cops and rioters there was plenty of lead flying both ways that hit incidental bystanders there, and police have no idea who the hell you are in a warzone.

During a riot, a properly used firearm in the hands of a decent person is not a liability.
(duh!)

.

 

[CaCrusin]

The video I remember most is the Korean store owner with the 12-gauge shotgun up on his roof. I'm sure that he would have preferred an AK-47, as often as he had to reload that long-barreled field gun. I thought about how much better he would have done with a Calico Carbine and a few 100-round magazines full of 9mm goblin getters. The number of people killed adn injured was suppressed by the City and police. Many deceased GSW victims were taken to hospitals outside the riot area and were not counted as riot casualties.

CaCrusin

 

[HankB]

PaulBK - thanks for the link. It appears that while some innocents unfortunately lost their lives (which is always tragic), quite a few of the dead were genuine bad guys, killed in the act of being bad, putting their deaths firmly into the "good riddance" category . . . and there's not enough info on the rest to reach a conclusion.

 

[M2 Carbine]

There was a picture that made the news of a black guy running by a building and being shot down by a Guardsman with a Jeep mounted 30 Browning.
Much of the story was a lie.
The reporter said that the man and a woman were trying to run OUT through a checkpoint with the car loaded with stolen stuff and the Guardsman opened up on them with the machine gun. The car crashed and the woman was killed in the crash. As the man tried to run he was shot down.

A couple years later I was an instructor at the Army helicopter flight school at Fort Wolters, Texas.
I happened to get that Guardsman as a student and he told me what really happened.

The car was trying to run the checkpoint INBOUND and, it appeared purposely, ran over the Sergeant. The Guardsman opened fire on the car killing the woman. The car crashed and the guy tried to run. The Guardsman said no way he was letting that guy get away after killing his Sergeant so he shot him.
The Sergeant lived, he wasn't hurt too bad.
The car was loaded with guns and ammo.
The woman was killed by bullets, not the crash.
The guardsman said he lost a stripe for not letting the attempted murderer escape. He said he thought it was a good trade.

The reporter and camera man were witness to all the facts but lied to make it look like those two people were killed just because they were stealing TV's.

 

[BigFatKen]

BTW - I was there, up close and personal.

I see you are from CA and now in WA. CA sounds like a good place to be from.

 

[No_Brakes23]

I see you are from CA and now in WA. CA sounds like a good place to be from.

That's gonna describe me real soon. Gonna be a ton of things I will miss about Cali, but it's definitely time to go.

 

[armedandsafe]

from CA and now in WA. CA sounds like a good place to be from

I can relate to that. San Diego was fun in the late 70s and 80s. Then even it turned ugly. Glad to be gone from there.

Pops

 

[shooter94]

I've got two rolls of film of all riot action...but damn if I lost 'em!

 

[bromdenlong]

I don't have any pictures. I wish I did.

I was driving to and from work with my pistol-gripped 12 gauge pump behind the passenger seat, covered by a towel, loaded with 3" #4 buckshot.

I didn't know whether it was legal. I just knew I wasn't going to be another Reginald Denny.

I understood why the *initial* rioters were ticked off. (The looters were just opportunists.) I was mad at that San Fernando jury too. Two of those cops deserved to go to prison with Rodney King. I suspected that the jury would let them off, and that the city was going to explode.

I understood and shared, at least to some extent, the frustration of South Central. But no way in hell was I going to get killed for being white.