LOS ANGELES — A man who was shot and killed by Los Angeles officers over the weekend had been previously shot by police in Rhode Island in 2018, authorities said.
The Los Angeles County coroner identified the man as 34-year-old Richard Solitro. His autopsy was listed as pending Monday afternoon.
Solitro was wearing body armor Saturday when he confronted police officers in Hollywood, police said.
The altercation initially began when Solitro cut off a police vehicle as the officers responded to another call with the car’s lights and sirens turned on. Solitro — driving a black sedan that had words and phrases written on it, such as “King Satan 666” — hit his brakes and backed into the car and got out, holding his right hand behind his back.
“The officers gave him commands which he did not follow, and he started counting down, saying 3… 2… 1… as he started to pull his hand from his back to the front,” Detective Meghan Aguilar told reporters.
At least one officer opened fire, killing Solitro. He was pronounced dead at the scene; no weapons were recovered.
In 2018, Solitro was shot by an officer in North Providence, Rhode Island, according to The Providence Journal. Officers had responded to his home because a relative was concerned he might harm himself.
Solitro was shot after pointing a replica gun at an officer, the newspaper reported.
A Providence grand jury in 2019 determined the shooting was legally justified, the Los Angeles Times reported, and Solitro in September pleaded no contest to felony assault by use of a device similar in appearance to a firearm.
LAPD Capt. Stacy Spell told the Times that the person killed in the Hollywood shooting was the man who had been shot in Rhode Island.
