A police chase of an unarmed runaway motorist in LA who failed to stop for driving recklessly ended with the teenager being shot dead live on television.
Officers fired more than 90 rounds at 19-year-old Abdul Arian after a pursuit on the freeway.
The dramatic video shows an LAPD police patrol car smashing into Arian's car as he does a failed U-turn in the road before he flees simulating pointing a weapon at chasing police.
News helicopter footage from CBS Sky 2 shows Arian jumping out of his car, turning and fleeing the scene running backwards.
He then repeatedly spins around in a combat stance just before he was shot on the US 101 Freeway in Woodland Hills, LA.
It has emerged that Arian made a frantic 911 call to police during the pursuit, saying he had a gun, but one wasn't recovered from the scene.
Arian was shot dead by an officer as he fled his vehicle just before 10pm last night.
The images of last night's police chase show the aftermath of the scene on the freeway wreathed with smashed remnants of the suspect’s car and bullet casings.
It comes at a very sensitive time in America following the huge public outcry over Trayvon Martin's shooting.
In a case which has gripped America and generated international headlines, Martin's killer George Zimmerman, who claimed he was acting in self defence, was charged with second degree murder this week after police hunted him for 45 days.
He faces the prospect of life in prison.
Lieutenant Andy Neiman said: 'The investigation will determine what happened, what the officer saw, what the witnesses saw.
'Sometimes what you see from a live shot from the air unit may or may not be exactly what people think so until we determine exactly what the witnesses saw, we can't make any comment on that.
Asked if the suspect was carrying a gun, Lt. Neiman said: 'That has not been determined at this point.'
The suspect's uncle Hamed Arian told the station: 'He was a nice kid. He was working. He was such a sweet kid, respectful to others.
'He wanted to be a cop and like I said before, during the chase last night, he was calling 911.
'He was afraid of cops. You know, he told me he wants to be a good cop, not a crooked cop.'
His family revealed he was working as a party-planning company as he pursued his dream of becoming a police officer.
Family members told how he graduated Taft High School but officials with the Los Angeles Unified School District said he left Taft in October 2011. It was unclear if he received his General Education Development (GED) test.
CBS reported that no weapon had been recovered from the scene as they reported the story last night.
Arian's uncle Hamed said he was a young man who neither took drugs or drank alcohol and was 'afraid of guns'.
But a different picture is emerging of the man who was killed after the high-speed car chase.
His Facebook page suggests a different story with Arian posting comments and pictures which shed light on his interests and lifestyle.
In one on April 5, he posted a status update, saying: 'Just came back from the shooting range.'
There is also an enlarged photo of his car posted on the page.
Abdul was shot dead by police after they fired off more than 90 rounds after a high-speed chase
Abdul was shot dead by police after they fired off more than 90 rounds after a high-speed chase
The youth's uncle said he last saw his nephew at 6pm on Wednesday night when he left for the gym, where he typically lifted weights and had a personal trainer.
Just four hours later, police say they saw Arian driving erratically on the Northridge Fashion Center and tried to pull him over.
But he refused and police pursued him on a frenetic, high-speed chase through the city's streets before he pulled onto the Ventura Freeway, ending on the eastbound 101 freeway.
The suspect's car was a Crown Victoria, which his uncle revealed was a one-time police cruiser that had been bought at an auction.
According to a partial transcript of the call made by Arian to a police dispatcher, he said: 'I have been arrested before for possession of destructive devices, I'm not afraid of the cops.
'If they pull their guns, I'm going to have to pull my gun out on them.'
The dispatcher desperately tried to stop Arian, pleading with him: 'I don't want you to hurt yourself.'
Arian responded with a string of expletives before and a threat: 'These police, they're going to get hurt.'
'As soon as he came out from (the) gym, he ran a red light,' Hamed told Channel 2. 'He panicked. OK? He panicked and he ran."
He suggested that when his nephew got out of the car, he was trying to tell police that he was on the phone with 911.
Lt. Neiman added: 'It's certainly bizarre behavior, and it ended in a tragic situation for all involved.'
Despairing family members gathered together this morning as news of Arian's death spread.
Consoling each other outside his uncle Hamed's home, they desperately tried to make sense of his death.
The young man was an aspiring policeman yet he also declared a dislike for police, they said.
It is believed that this stemmed from the fact he was stopped several times by officers who told him he needed to repaint his car - a retried police cruiser - because it was black and white.
'That's why he didn't like police,' Karimee added, saying that Abdul eventually painted the vehicle solid black.
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