Judge Awards $4.1 Million To Homeless Couple Shot 15 Times By The LAPD

Screenshot via KTLA 5 News Jennifer and Angel Mendez and their healthy son, A.J. Bendecito, which stands for "blessed" in SpanishA once-homeless couple now has $4.1 million thanks to a judge's ruling that the Los Angeles Police Department violated their civil rights when officers shot them 15 times, KTLA 5 News reported.

The LAPD sheriff's deputies officers entered the couple's shack, on private property, allegedly without a warrant. When they saw a BB gun, used for killing rats and other pests, they opened fire, shooting the couple a combined 15 times, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Angel Mendez was shot 14 times, according to the couple’s lawsuit, and his right leg had to be amputated below the knee. Jennifer Mendez, pregnant at the time, incurred only one gunshot wound, according to the lawsuit.

“I kept screaming for them to ‘stop shooting, stop shooting, my fiance is pregnant, it’s just a BB gun,’” Mendez told KTLA 5 News.

The two officers were looking for an armed and dangerous parolee when they entered the couple's small shack.

Their lawyer, David Drexler, says their case is a victory for poor minorities minorities in the area, whom he says are unfairly targeted by police, ABC News reported.