INGLEWOOD — With the Inglewood Police Department holding fast to its claim that shooting victim Marcus Smith pointed a gun at officers on the morning he died, members of a legal team representing his family are calling on prosecutors to charge the officers who killed him with second-degree murder.

Attorneys Dennis P. Wilson, Gregory A. Yates and Anthony A. Luti, along with private investigator Kevin R. Hackie — all of whom also represent the family of postal worker Kevin Wicks, who was killed in an officer-involved shooting last July — made the bombshell announcement at a Friday press conference in San Pedro.

A 31-year-old father of three, Smith was shot and killed in the early hours of May 24 when police responded to calls of a fight at a party in the 800 block of South Osage Avenue. Flanked by gruesome and unsettling pictures of the deceased, Wilson and Hackie, who have been spearheading the investigation into Smith’s death, revealed preliminary findings of an independent autopsy and field investigation into the shooting scene.

According to Hackie, Dr. Sylvia Camprini, a former head of the Washington, D.C. coroner’s office, performed the autopsy on May 26.

“Mr. Smith was shot at point-blank range from a distance of seven feet, once in the head and 17 times in the back,” said Hackie, a retired law enforcement officer now with San Pedro-based Beach Cities Investigation & Protective Service Inc. “A witness has given us a sworn statement that from his vantage point, he observed an altercation between Inglewood Police officers and Marcus Smith, and that Smith walked away with his hands up. The witness, who is basically in fear for his life, said three of the four officers on the stairway opened fire. Once the firing stopped, officers fired approximately 21 rounds, 17 of which entered his body.”

Hackie continued: “The witness stated — and we’ll call this ‘Officer No. 1,’ who was the shortest of the three on the stairway — he walked back to the scene over Mr. Smith’s body and dropped a firearm on the side of the stairway. At no time whatsoever beyond a reasonable doubt, was Mr. Smith armed.”

Likening the incident to the infamous Rampart scandal that rocked the Los Angeles Police Department, Hackie praised the vast majority of Inglewood officers, but dubbed the three who fired their weapons that night as “maniac cops.”

Said Hackie: “If there is anything less than a recommendation of murder in the second degree [and] the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony under cover of authority, then this will be a cover-up.”

Wilson said the investigating team has interviewed and videotaped dozens of witnesses and sent that information to the FBI. “Look: The police did this in a well-lit area with people around them and opened fire within a five-foot radius.” said Wilson. “Everybody saw that Mr. Smith did not have a gun.”

Inglewood Police made no official response over the weekend to the accusations leveled in Friday’s briefing. But on Monday, department spokesman Lt. Mike McBride told The Wave that police “have already made their official statement.”

“That is, as Chief Seabrooks said in her press conference, Mr. Smith pointed a gun at officers,” said McBride. “As far as any private investigations, I cannot make an assessment as to their validity. These are not official agencies. Everything else must wait for that.”

Meanwhile, Luti — who called on the Inglewood community to react with calm — couldn’t hide his sense of anger at what he sees as a rising tide of tragic incidents involving African-Americans.

“This is happening over and over again,” said Luti. “But while there has been a plethora of shootings and killings of young Black men, not one police officer has been prosecuted in any way, shape or form.”