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An attorney representing two women who were delivering newspapers when they were shot by police during a massive manhunt for an ex-LAPD officer called the incident "unacceptable," saying his clients looked nothing like the suspect.
Emma Hernandez, 71, was delivering the Los Angeles Times with her daughter, Margie Carranza, 47, in the 19500 block of Redbeam Avenue in Torrance on Thursday morning when Los Angeles police detectives apparently mistook their pickup for that of Christopher Dorner, the 33-year-old fugitive suspected of killing three people and injuring two others.
Hernandez, who attorney Glen T. Jonas said was shot twice in the back, was in stable condition late Thursday. Carranza received stitches on her finger.
"The problem with the situation is it looked like the police had the goal of administering street justice and in so doing, didn’t take the time to notice that these two older, small Latina women don’t look like a large black man," Jonas said.
Officials seeking Dorner describe him as black, 6 feet tall and weighing 270 pounds.
"We trust that the LAPD will step up and do the right thing and acknowledge that what they did was unacceptable, and we’ll deal with it," Jonas said.
Television images from the scene of the shooting showed newspapers scattered alongside the blue pickup and in the bed of the bullet-ridden vehicle, which sat on the street for hours after the shooting. Jonas said the vehicle was also "the wrong color and the wrong model," compared to Dorner’s.
Sources said the Los Angeles police detectives involved in the Torrance shooting were on protective detail for a police official named in an online manifesto that authorities say was posted to a Facebook page they believe belongs to Dorner.
"Tragically, we believe this is a case of mistaken identity," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck told reporters earlier Thursday about the shooting.
About 25 minutes after the shooting, Torrance police opened fire after spotting another truck similar to Dorner’s at Flagler Lane and Beryl Street. No one was reported hurt.
