From [HERE] Friends and family of 22-year-old Compton dad Tony Francis are having a hard time believing the L.A. County Sheriff's account of his death last Friday: Sheriff's Homicide Detective Holly Francisco told reporters that a deputy from the Lakewood station was forced to shoot Francis after the suspect was observed carrying out a violent robbery near the American Tire Depot on Alondra Boulevard in Bellflower.

Francis "was hitting the victim in the face numerous times and stole an item from the victim," the detective alleged to CBS2. "The suspect then began to run away from the deputy. The deputy followed him..."

"... and when the suspect reached and grabbed toward his waistband, the deputy, believing that he was armed, fired at the suspect."

We've contacted Detective Francisco to see if the Sheriff's Department is sticking by that story. But according to Bryan Dunn, an attorney with the Cochran firm -- the same wrongful-death powerhouse that took on the infamous Reginald Doucet police slaying in Playa Vista last year -- Francis "hadn't committed any violent crime" before he was shot dead.

The sheriff's incriminating portrait of Francis and the "waistband" allegation are familiar tactics, says Dunn.

"What the police do under these types of circumstances is invent a scenario that will make an unjustified shooting seem justified," he says. (Indeed, CBS2 commenters seem to use the robbery allegation to argue that cops were just taking another thug (Black/Latino man) off the streets.)

The attorney calls Friday's tragedy "another example of an officer shooting first and asking questions later." He says the victim's family will be filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, based on "civil-rights violations" and "negligent tactics."