17 arrested following protests after fatal El Cajon police shooting

Seventeen people were arrested following protests in El Cajon this weekend, according to a statement released Sunday by the El Cajon Police Department.

Four people were arrested on suspicion of alcohol-related offenses, and one was detained in connection with an unrelated arrest warrant, the statement said.

Police said the remaining 12 were arrested on suspicion of failing to depart an unlawful assembly near Broadway and North Mollison Avenue in El Cajon, near where Alfred Olango was fatally shot by police Tuesday.

All the arrests occurred between Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

The first arrests came after police stopped a vehicle leaving the protest area and arrested the driver, who was under 21, on suspicion of driving under the influence. Two passengers in the vehicle were arrested on suspicion of public intoxication.

According to police, a small group of protesters continued to gather in the area following the initial arrest. A fight broke out and it was reported that someone was leaving to get a gun.

“Sensing this shift in the demeanor of the crowd and out of concern for community safety, officers declared an unlawful assembly and ordered the group to disperse,” the statement said.

The majority of the crowd left at this time, police said, however a small crowd remained. The protesters were asked again to disperse.

When the small group did not make any attempt to leave, police made the additional arrests around 1 a.m. The protests mark the fifth consecutive night of unrest since an El Cajon police officer shot Olango, an unarmed immigrant from Uganda, during a confrontation at a strip mall. He pulled what officers said they thought was a gun from his pants. The device was a vaping pen.

El Cajon police released two videos of the shooting Friday. The videos show the officer fired four times at close range almost immediately after Olango, 38, suddenly raised both hands to chest level and took what police described as a shooting stance.

The incident is the latest in a series of fatal shootings of black men that have roiled communities across the U.S.

Schroeder writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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