Los Angeles police are investigating a high-speed chase that ended with officers firing more than 90 rounds at a teenage driver who failed to pull over for reckless driving, police said on Thursday.
The LAPD said on Friday that it is investigating the shooting, but defended the officers' actions.
Eight police officers from the Los Angeles Police Department shot dead 19-year-old Abdul Arian after a freeway pursuit on Wednesday night.
"It's certainly bizarre behaviour, and it ended in a tragic situation for all involved," LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman told the Los Angeles Times.
The LAPD said on Friday that it is investigating the shooting, but defended the officers' actions.
Police said they noticed Mr Arian's erratic driving behaviour and signalled for him to pull over near the Northridge Fashion Center. He refused and engaged police in a car chase on city streets before pulling onto the Ventura Freeway.
Mr Arian was driving a black Crown Victoria, which his family said was a retired police cruiser that he purchased at an auction.
At one point Mr Arian cut across several lanes, jumped out of the car and started sprinting backwards down the freeway. As he ran, facing police, he extended both hands and clasped them together. The scene was captured by a CBS Sky 2 news helicopter.
Then the man started walking towards his vehicle and assumed what police called "a shooting stance". He waved what appeared to be a weapon, but was later confirmed to be his cell phone.
Eight LAPD officers opened fire, killing him.
The Arian family watched the dramatic car chase as it was happening on television. The man's uncle Hamed Arian told the Los Angeles Times he thought his nephew acted erratically because he was afraid.
It emerged that the driver made a desperate 911 call during the pursuit. The LAPD released a partial transcript of the call, in which he claimed to have a gun and threatened to use it on police.
"I have been arrested before for possession of destructive devices, I'm not afraid of the cops," Mr Arian told the dispatcher. "If they pull their guns, I'm going to have to pull my gun out on them."
The dispatcher told Mr Arian to surrender to police so he doesn't get hurt, to which he responded that it would be police who "are going to get hurt".
No weapon was found at the site of the shooting.
The man's uncle said his nephew wanted to be a police officer. He took part in the LAPD explorer academy, police confirmed, but was expelled before graduating for "unspecified disciplinary reasons".
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