TORRANCE, Calif. — The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office dropped manslaughter charges in a 2018 fatal officer-involved shooting, KTLA reported.
The initial incident unfolded when Torrance Police Department officers instructed Christopher De’Andre Mitchell to get out of a car that was suspected to be stolen. The officers involved in the incident stated that Mitchell reached for a gun in the vehicle. The gun was later determined to be a Crosman Phantom 1000 air rifle with an altered buttstock.
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Body camera footage, released in 2019, shows Mitchell twice dropping one or more of his hands down from the steering wheel. Officers fired shots the second time he moved toward the weapon.
In the critical incident briefing, police said Mitchell was a documented gang member with convictions dating to 2014, including vehicle theft and firearm possession.
Former D.A. Jackie Lacey declined to prosecute the officers in 2019, finding they acted in self-defense, KTLA reported.
A special prosecutor reopened the case in 2020, taking it to a grand jury. The jury indicted the officers on voluntary manslaughter charges, to which they pleaded not guilty. Current D.A. Nathan Hochman in 2025 indicated he intended to drop the case.
