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LOS ANGELES. — Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a black man during a confrontation on Monday afternoon in South LA, sparking protests at the scene of the encounter.

The sheriff’s department says that at about 3:15pm local time two deputies tried to stop a black man riding a bicycle “in violation of vehicle codes,” but when they approached him, he got off the bicycle and ran.

Sheriff’s Lt Brandon Dean told reporters that deputies caught up to the suspect about a block away, and when they approached him, the man punched one of the deputies in the face and dropped items of clothing he had been carrying.

Deputies “noticed that inside the clothing items he dropped was a black semiautomatic handgun,” and that’s when both deputies opened fire, shooting the man “several” times, Dean said.

Investigators recovered a handgun from the scene.

“We do know that the suspect was struck several times, however we are unaware of exactly where as we have not been able to move the body yet because we were waiting for the coroner’s office,” Dean said.

According to Dean, both deputies involved in the incident fired their weapons, but neither were injured.

The man, identified by the County Medical Examiner’s Office as 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee, was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Kizzee’s death comes amid public protests over the August 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the May death of George Floyd in Minneapolis after an officer knelt on his neck.

Dean said the deputies have yet to be interviewed and were not wearing body cameras; investigators are combing the area for any surveillance video or home security footage and are calling on any witnesses with cell phone video to come forward.

The District Attorney’s office and Office of the Inspector General are assisting in the investigation.

Activist group Black Lives Matter in an earlier tweet said police had “killed a black man” and had “left his body facedown in the dirt”.

“We need all hands on deck,” the tweet reads. “Please get here ASAP!”

By Monday evening a crowd formed near the scene, and continued to grow through the night. Many of the protesters were seen confronting deputies keeping a perimeter around the crime scene.“How many more times do we have to gather out here, mourning the loss of our brothers and sisters,” one protester said.

Monday’s shooting comes two and a half months after another Los Angeles police shooting under scrutiny.

The FBI is reviewing the death of 18-year-old Andres Guardado, who was shot by an LA county sheriff’s deputy on June 18 near an auto body shop in Gardena, California.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Captain Kurt Wegener said at the time that Guardado “reportedly looked toward the deputies” and “produced a handgun” before running down the driveway of the business. The deputies pursued Guardado and caught up to him at the rear of the business, where one deputy fired six rounds, Wegener said.

An independent autopsy ordered by Guardado’s family found the teen was shot five times in the back; the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office came to the same conclusion, and Guardado’s manner of death was certified a homicide.

LA county sheriff’s investigators said last month that the investigation is ongoing, but it’s competing with another investigation at the same location, where a person was shot multiple times.

The department said that Guardado was not involved in that shooting, but the two deputies involved in Guardado’s shooting also responded to that incident.— CNN.