LOS ANGELES, CA -- Los Angeles Police are investigating a gun battle that left one of their own recovering from a bullet wound and a young man dead in a public housing project in Watts Monday night. The LAPD officer is expected to recover, and Chief Charlie Beck praised his heroism today while the mother of the dead suspect claims her son was unarmed and shot while running away. The shooting at the Nickerson Gardens public housing project.was reported at about 11 p.m. Monday at 112th and Antwerp streets, according to Los Angeles Police Department Officer Norma Eisenman. Police described the confrontation as a running gun battle, but the mother of the dead suspect said her son was unarmed and running away from officer when he was shot. "He didn't have nothing," Lisa Simpson told Fox11. "He was running and he put his hands up, and they still shot him. They (police) got nothing but guns on their hips. They don't Taser you no more, they kill your ass. Ain't no 'Tomorrow you'll be still all right,' no, they takin' your life away from you. And they gonna pay for this. They gonna pay for this dearly." A police officer was injured in an arm and was treated at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, and later released. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck visited the officer at the hospital, and wrote on his Twitter page, "I'm in awe of the courage displayed," adding that the officer is "expected to make a full recovery and (is) in good spirits." CLICK FOR MORE
