$30 MILLION CLAIM FILED IN SHOOTING LAWYER: DEPUTY UNJUSTIFIED IN KILLING LITTLEROCK MAN.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A $30 million claim filed Thursday alleges that a sheriff's deputy was unjustified in shooting to death an unarmed ex-convict in November in front of a Littlerock home.

The claim, filed with Los Angeles County, is a precursor to state and federal lawsuits alleging civil-rights violations and other abuses, said attorney Dale Galipo, who is representing the family of slain Littlerock resident Robert Mitchell.

``Based on all the information we have, we think it is a totally unjustified killing,'' Galipo said. ``They claim that he was reaching for the deputy's gun. That's something they're putting out there for possible justification.''

The claim is on behalf of Mitchell's mother, Alice; his father, Doris; his brother, Ricky; and nephew, Alex Alzo Conedy, both of whom witnessed the shooting, and Mitchell's two children, Robert and Daniel.

Sheriff's officials could not be reached Thursday to comment on the claim, but they said immediately after the shooting that Mitchell was shot while trying to grab a deputy's gun. He had been released from prison the previous May after serving time for assault on a peace officer.

The shooting occurred about 6:30 p.m. Nov. 20 as Mitchell and his brother Ricky were leaving their sister's house in the 9200 block of East Avenue T-4, Galipo said.

At the same time, officials said, deputies pulled up to answer a 911 call of a burglary at a home next door. Before they arrived, the deputies were told that the intruder was a neighbor who was threatening to kill the home's residents, officials said.

When deputies arrived, they spotted Mitchell, who deputies said matched the description of the intruder broadcast by dispatchers.

According to the Sheriff's Department account of the confrontation, one deputy approached Mitchell with his gun drawn and ordered him to stop. The deputy said Mitchell lunged at him and tried to wrestle away his gun. The deputy fired a single shot, hitting Mitchell, who walked toward the house next door.

Deputies said they ordered Mitchell to stop, but that he attacked the same deputy again, and they began to struggle.

As the second deputy came to his partner's aid, the Sheriff's Department account said, Mitchell grabbed the second deputy's gun in its holster. The first deputy on the scene, who had fired the original shot, opened fire again.

Mitchell was pronounced dead at Antelope Valley Hospital from six gunshot wounds, Galipo said. The second deputy suffered a bullet wound to his hand.

Galipo said Mitchell was 10 feet to 15 feet away from the deputies when one shot him three times. The second deputy then tried to get Mitchell to the ground by striking him on the head with his baton, Galipo said.

After the deputy hit Mitchell with the baton, the other deputy fired again, striking Mitchell at least three times and his partner once, Galipo said.

``Three (gunshot wounds) were in the back or side of the back, which, at least from our position, we feel is significant,'' Galipo said.

Galipo says witnesses, a Los Angeles County Coroner's Office report and a private autopsy indicate that Mitchell was at least 10 feet to 15 feet from the deputies when the first shot was fired.

He added that reports show bruises and cuts, which indicates that Mitchell was hit several times on the head. Galipo says he cannot confirm that there was a burglary call at the neighboring house because he has not been able to obtain the 911 recording or any report.

Mitchell, who lived about a quarter-mile from the house where he was shot, had been working as a machinist before his death, Galipo said.