The murky past of the man shot by LA police

Protestors carry a banner during a rally in front of the police administration building in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday in protest of the shooting of an unarmed homeless man. A profile of the man has emerged since the shooting that paints a murky picture. AP Photo/Nick Ut)

When a black homeless man was shot dead by police on Skid Row, Los Angeles, on Sunday, it was seen as another example of white American officers being too quick to reach for their guns.

But the real story behind the man's death - and remarkable life - has emerged as something far more complex, involving dreams of Hollywood stardom and a foiled bank robbery.

The 39-year-old, identified by police after his death as Charley Saturmin Robinet, was actually using a fake identity, stolen from a Frenchman, to try to make a career in Hollywood.

The man known to his Skid Row friends as "Africa" or "Cameroon" had stolen Mr Robinet's identity, and in the late Nineties used it to acquire a French passport to get to the United States.

He moved to Los Angeles, and, according to the Los Angeles Times, began taking acting classes at the Beverly Hills Playhouse - a drama school whose alumni include George Clooney, Michelle Pfeiffer and Alec Baldwin.

But he struggled to pay the fees and in 2000 was arrested after holding up a bank in the suburb of Thousand Oaks.

Wearing a ski mask and armed with a gun, the man burst into a Wells Fargo Bank and ordered everyone down on the floor. He jumped on the counter and demanded money from a teller. He dragged the teller to the vault and pistol-whipped him when he failed to produce a key, according to court documents.

After forcing a bank manager at gunpoint to open two vaults, the man and an accomplice fled in a getaway car.

"I recall that case quite well - it was quite straightforward," said Steven Cron, his lawyer at the time. "There was a car chase, and then they used a 'stinger' - a line of nails - on the motorway. If I remember rightly he said that he needed the cash to pay for his acting lessons."

He refused to plead guilty - against the advice of his lawyer - and was sentenced to 15 years. He was released in May last year.

The head of a Skid Row homeless shelter said on Monday that the man had been living in a tent outside for weeks and had a history of violent, erratic behaviour. He had apparently been treated for mental illness while in prison.

When he was shot on Sunday police identified him from his fingerprints, which matched those of the robbery committed by "Charley Robinet". But French authorities came forward late on Tuesday and said Mr Robinet was a law-abiding citizen who was "alive and well in France".

Axel Cruau, the French consul general in Los Angeles, said the identity theft was discovered after the man was convicted of the bank robbery, and officials began preparing the paperwork to deport him, thinking he was a French citizen. French officials notified their US counterparts when they realised the man was not the real Mr Robinet - but did not know what happened after that.

Mr Cruau said his office had contacted Los Angeles police to let them know the man identified as Mr Robinet was an impostor. "He fooled a lot of people, including us, years ago," said Mr Cruau.

It was unclear whether authorities had determined his true identity. James Attaway, 48, who slept near the man in the street, said he used the first name "Shawn" and told him he had family in Boston. The shooting led to protests in Los Angeles, after it was filmed and posted online.