Ezell Ford

Ezell Ford, 25, who his family said had a serious mental illness, was shot and killed by LAPD Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas on August 11, 2014, during a struggle after the officers stopped him while he was walking near his South Los Angeles home. Police said Ford grabbed for Wampler's holstered weapon during the struggle; DNA evidence supported that he was on top of Wampler at the time of the shooting. The Los Angeles Police Commission ruled in June 2015 that Wampler had no legal justification to stop Ford in the first place, making the entire encounter — and by extension the shooting — out of department policy. Despite that finding, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced in January 2017, more than two years after the shooting, that neither officer would face criminal charges, concluding both had acted in lawful self-defense. No officer in Los Angeles County had been criminally charged for an on-duty shooting since 2000, and none was in Ford's case either.

Los Angeles, CA · Los Angeles County County

• 2014: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The stop, struggle, and shooting, per the LAPD's own investigation and the district attorney's 28-page charging decision report.
• DNA evidence indicated Ford was on top of Officer Wampler and struggling for his holstered weapon at the time of the shooting, per the DA's report.
• The Los Angeles Police Commission ruled in June 2015 that Wampler had no legal basis to stop and pursue Ford, making the stop itself a violation of department policy, and that this violation extended to the use of deadly force that followed; the commission found Villegas's conduct largely within policy, apart from how he drew his weapon.
• The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced on January 24, 2017 that both officers acted lawfully in self-defense and would not be charged, a decision reached despite the Police Commission's contrary policy finding.
• The Los Angeles City Council approved a $1.5 million settlement with Ford's family in February 2017, weeks after the DA's decision.
• Per a 2015 analysis, no Los Angeles County law enforcement officer had faced criminal charges for an on-duty shooting since 2000.

• How the DA's office reconciled its self-defense finding with the Police Commission's separate, contrary conclusion that the underlying stop — and by extension the encounter that led to the shooting — violated department policy has not been fully explained publicly.
• Whether officers were aware of, or had reason to know of, Ford's mental illness at the time they initiated the stop was disputed between the family's account and the department's official record.
• What internal discipline, if any, either officer faced as a result of the Police Commission's out-of-policy finding, separate from the criminal charging decision, was not comprehensively documented in public reporting.

• CBS News — “No charges for 2 LAPD officers in killing of Ezell Ford”
• Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office — official charging decision letter
• ACLU of Southern California — statement on the DA's decision
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs