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El Cajon, Calif. • Dozens of demonstrators Wednesday protested the killing of a black man shot by an officer after authorities said the man pulled an object from a pocket, pointed it and assumed a "shooting stance."

Protesters who gathered outside the suburban San Diego police station in El Cajon chanted "no killer cops" and "black lives matter." Demonstrators who said they knew the man killed Tuesday identified him as Alfred Olango, a refugee from Uganda.

Agnes Hassan, originally from Sudan, described Olango as well-educated but mentally ill. She said she spent time in a refugee camp with Olango and that both of them suffered getting to the United States.

The man died after one El Cajon officer fired an electronic stun gun and another officer simultaneously fired his firearm several times, El Cajon police Chief Jeff Davis told reporters at a news conference late Tuesday night. Davis did not describe the object but acknowledged it was not a weapon.

Some protesters said Tuesday night that Olango was shot while his hands were raised in the air. Police disputed that and produced a frame from a cellphone video taken by a witness that appeared to show the man in the "shooting stance" as two officers approached with weapons drawn.

Olango often hung around the strip mall and frequently seemed "agitated but he was never aggressive toward me," said Victor Hauer, who works at a nearby convenience store and sometimes bought the man food or gave him a few dollars.

Police said they were called to the mall shortly after 2 p.m. by the victim's sister, who said he was "not acting like himself" and walking in traffic. The man refused "multiple" orders to take his hand from his pocket, then was shot after pulling out the object that authorities declined to describe, police said.

When detectives arrived, police say a female witness came forward and voluntarily provided cellphone video of the incident. Authorities released the single frame from it but not the video. El Cajon officers do not wear body cameras.