Family demands answers after LAPD officers fatally shoot mentally ill man in Koreatown
LOS ANGELES — Before Yong Yang was fatally shot by Los Angeles police last week inside his parents' Koreatown home, his mother called mental health officials for assistance.
Her 40-year-old son was experiencing a severe bipolar episode, Myung Sook Yang said, and she specifically reached out to the county Department of Mental Health (DMH) before the shooting to avoid involving law enforcement.
Within hours of making the call, her son was dead — killed in his family's living room while holding a kitchen knife, police said.
On Tuesday, LAPD officials released the department's annual use of force report, which showed an increase in the number of times that officers opened fire, from 31 times in 2022 to 34 last year — more than any other big-city U.S. department.
Officials blamed the increase in part on the number of people shot who, like Yang, were holding sharp objects while in a mental health or
