Witnesses told the that the man shot dead was well-known in the area as “Africa”, and that he had been there for four or five months.

The officers, who were answering a robbery call in the area on Sunday, got into a struggle with the man and tried to use a stun gun on him before shooting him, Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Sergeant Barry Montgomery said. At least one officer opened fire, police said.

The video also shows police grabbing a woman after she picks up a baton that an officer dropped, then appears to raise it.

One witness, Jose Gil, 38, told the that he saw the man swinging his fist at police. Officers in the video appeared to be subduing him.

Gil said he heard one officer shout, “He’s got my gun!” before multiple shots were fired.

The man was declared dead at hospital soon after the shooting, police spokesman Montgomery said.

Eyewitness Dennis Horne, 29, said “Africa” had been fighting with someone else in his tent before officers arrived.

“It’s sad,” Horne said. “There’s no justification to take somebody’s life.”

The video comes against a backdrop of highly publicised police shootings of black men that sparked weeks of protests late last year. A local CBS television affiliate reported that tensions in Skid Row remained high for hours after the shooting.

Los Angeles Police Commission President Steve Soboroff told the Times that the LAPD, the independent inspector general and the district attorney would all investigate the shooting “very, very carefully”.