Family: Costco shooting victim a 'gentle giant'

Image 1 of 3

The Latest on the fatal police-involved shooting at a Costco Wholesale warehouse store in Corona (all times local):

3:35 p.m.

A cousin of the man shot and killed by an off-duty police officer at a Costco Wholesale warehouse store in Corona says he was a "gentle giant" who was mentally disabled.

Corona police say Kenneth French attacked the Los Angeles Police Department officer, who was holding his young child, Friday night. The officer fatally shot French and critically wounded two others.

The Press-Enterprise reports that French's cousin Rick Shureih identified the other victims as French's parents, Russell and Paola French.

Shureih says French's family is seeking an attorney and declined to give specifics about his mental condition.

The officer's identity has not been released. The LAPD is conducting its own administrative investigation.

Corona police and the Riverside County district attorney's office are conducting a separate investigation and have not responded to requests for comment.

___

11:41 a.m.

The Los Angeles Police Department is gathering evidence and video footage in an administrative investigation into an off-duty officer who shot and killed a man who authorities say attacked him inside a Costco Wholesale warehouse store.

Los Angeles Police Commission President Steve Soboroff says Sunday it's Chief Michel Moore's decision whether to put the officer on leave but it remains unclear if that has happened.

The department doesn't have any rule prohibiting off-duty officers from carrying firearms.

Authorities remained tight-lipped Sunday, not responding to requests for comment about what provoked the confrontation and whether anyone but the officer was armed. Two others were critically injured in the Friday night shooting in Corona, which is about 40 miles east of Los Angeles.

The officer's identity has not been released.