Black Lives Matter protesters march through the streets as they demonstrate the decision by Sacramento District Attorney to not charge the Sacramento police officers who shot and killed Stephon Clark (JUSTIN SULLIVAN)

Los Angeles (AFP) – California’s top prosecutor confirmed Tuesday that no charges would be filed in a high-profile case in which police shot dead an unarmed black man who had been holding a cell phone.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the two officers involved in the March 2018 incident that made national headlines acted lawfully when they each fired 10 shots at Stephon Clark after he was chased into his grandmother’s backyard.

Becerra’s independent report into the killing is in line with Sacramento District Attorney Marie Schubert’s findings that no charges were warranted in the case.

Schubert’s decision at the weekend prompted protests in Sacramento — where the killing took place — with 84 people arrested late Monday, including college students, several reporters and a pastor who has played a prominent role in demanding accountability in the case.  

“This loss of life is a tragedy, and it is the kind of tragedy we have endured far too many times across our state and nation,” Becerra told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday. 

“After extensively reviewing the record, we found that the evidence did not support filing criminal charges against the officers involved in the shooting.”

The two officers who shot Clark were responding to an emergency call of a man smashing car windows. The two men chased Clark into a backyard that turned out to be his grandmother’ home and shot him as he approached them holding what they believed to be a gun. The young man, however, had been holding a cell phone.

An autopsy report showed that seven bullets hit Clark, including three in the back. Blood tests also revealed that Clark had alcohol, cocaine and opiates in his system.

Investigators found that Clark had broken the windows of three cars parked near his grandmother’s home and had smashed the sliding door of a neighbor with a cinderblock.

Clark’s killing took place amid heightened tensions in the United States over the use of deadly force by police across the country, especially involving black men.

Last month, a young US rapper was shot 26 times by police in California after he was found slumped over in his car with a gun in his lap.

US Attorney McGregor W. Scott and Sean Ragan, the FBI agent in charge of the case, said in a statement they would work with the Justice Department to examine whether the shooting “involved violations of Mr. Clark’s federal civil rights.”

“That examination will involve a review of the substance and results of the state and local investigations, and any additional investigative steps, if warranted,” they said.

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