Deputies’ Version of Shooting Disputed : Law enforcement: The official report says officers killed a man when he reached for a holster. But others claim he was just confused.

Family members and eyewitnesses Sunday disputed the official version of a shooting in which an unarmed, nearly blind man was killed by a barrage of bullets fired by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.

Authorities said William Howard Leonard, 44, of Lynwood, was shot to death after he disobeyed orders to place his hands on his head and, instead, reached for his waistband where a holster was visible. Investigators said Leonard was unarmed, but a .38-caliber revolver was found in the truck he drove.

Witnesses said Leonard appeared confused by conflicting orders from deputies, and was trying to comply when he was shot.

“He didn’t reach for a gun. He wasn’t threatening them,” said the victim’s daughter, Sandi, 18, who witnessed the shooting. “They (deputies) just opened fire on him. And, even after he fell, they kept shooting. I screamed . . . ‘Stop, he’s already down!’ ”

It was the third controversial, deputy-involved killing in the past month.

On Jan. 11, April May Alvarado, a former high school cheerleader who had shot and wounded her fiance with a two-shot Derringer, was killed by a shot to the forehead after deputies said she ignored their orders to surrender. Alvarado was backing up an embankment when deputies fired 26 shots, three of which struck her.

During a Jan. 23 traffic stop, Nation of Islam member Oliver Beasley, 27, was shot in the head after a struggle with deputies. That incident led to a meeting between sheriff’s officials and representatives from 80 community groups.

Saturday’s incident began about 7 p.m. with a call about “an insane man armed with a gun,” Sheriff’s Homicide Lt. Bill Christiansen said. Four deputies responded to the 3500 block of Brenton Avenue in Lynwood, saw Leonard driving in a pickup truck and followed him until he stopped, he said.

“Obviously, what they wanted to do was keep him in his vehicle for control,” Christiansen said.

But deputies contend that Leonard got out of the truck and “started to berate the deputies . . . using some profanity and . . . not making sense at all,” he said.

When deputies noticed a holster under Leonard’s short denim jacket, Christiansen said, they ordered him to place his hands behind his head, and not move.

“He started to comply a couple of times. He would start to do as he was told, but then would turn around, or take his hands down. He suddenly kneels down, pushes (his) coat back and reaches for the holster,” Christiansen said.

The deputies fired 20 rounds, the lieutenant said, but it wasn’t known how many times Leonard was wounded. County paramedics said Leonard was hit 12 to 15 times, Fire Capt. Charles Child said. An autopsy was scheduled.

Sandi Leonard said she was visiting a friend, Martha Soliz, when her father, who lived several blocks away, arrived. She said her father, who did not have a driver’s license, borrowed a neighbor’s truck. She said she did not know how her father was able to drive, because he was nearly blind.

Sandi Leonard said her father had carried a gun for several weeks for protection because someone had jumped him near his home. She said her father was unruly Saturday night, but was not threatening anyone. Soliz called authorities, “because she didn’t want anything to happen,” the daughter said.

Area resident Helen Wright said Leonard “looked like he was dazed; like he didn’t know what to do. He was getting two sets of orders. One deputy told him to place his hands behind his head, another told him not to move.”

Leonard’s former wife, Mary Ashton, said he had worked as a clerk and warehouseman, but was unemployed. She said Leonard was born with eye problems and had been declared legally blind. However, she had no documentary proof of that Sunday. Ashton added that Leonard had a drinking problem, but was not violent and had not had any run-ins with police.

“They (deputies) handled it wrong,” Sandi Leonard contended. “They didn’t frisk him. . . . One told him to kneel down and he started to, but he fell against the truck and reached his hand out to steady himself. Then he got back up and turned toward the officers, and then he was going to kneel again, and they started shooting.

“They should have put him in jail, not the grave.”

Times staff writers Jocelyn Y. Stewart and George Ramos contributed to this story.