Gates Provides Details About Fatal Shooting of Watts Man by Police : Violence: Police chief goes public in an effort to dispel rumors and what he calls inflammatory misinformation.

Seeking to dispel rumors surrounding a recent police shooting, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates on Thursday provided an unusually detailed account of the death of a man who allegedly fired at officers during a power blackout in a Watts housing project.

The shooting death of 28-year-old Henry Peco in the Imperial Courts housing project on Nov. 29 sparked a tense situation as more than 100 angry residents poured into the streets complaining that the incident was unwarranted.

Since then, some residents have suggested that Peco was unarmed and was shot more than 20 times by police officers who told paramedics to leave the scene. Others said the police officers caused the power failure.

“There is an awful lot of misinformation being put out I believe . . . is inflammatory,” Gates said at a news conference. “It . . . could set off a disturbance if we don’t get our facts out.”

Gates said the power failure occurred when strong winds caused a television antenna to fall into a power feeder line near the complex at 5:22 p.m. A few minutes later, police responded to four reports of shots being fired.

When officers arrived, they exchanged fire with three suspects including Peco, who was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle.

An autopsy concluded that Peco was shot five times, in the head, abdomen, foot, ankle and buttock, Gates said. The autopsy also revealed gunshot residue on both of Peco’s hands, “a positive indicator that Peco discharged a firearm,” he said.

In addition, Gates said, the “paramedics were prevented by an incredibly hostile crowd from approaching Peco for 10 minutes.”

Gates based his conclusions, in part, on interviews with two men arrested Wednesday in connection with the shooting.

Marlon Kirkwood, 21, and Kevin Jenkins, 18, have been charged with six counts of attempted murder and six counts assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, Gates said.

A spokesman for the residents, Rev. Carl Washington of the New Commandment Baptist Church, has called for an independent investigation into the shooting of Peco, who he maintains was unarmed. Washington could not be reached for comment Thursday.