Two Korean men stand on the roof of a grocery store with rifles to prevent looters from entering the store. LA riots, April 30th, 1992

The Rodney King trial results were announced April 29th at 3:15 pm. A jury had found some police officers not guilty of beating Rodney King. (The beating was videotaped and widely broadcasted.) That afternoon and evening rioters had started looting and burning local stores. It got out of control and the LAPD pulled out of the area.

This photo was taken the next morning. The only way the business owners could defend their property was to do it by themselves. If they call 911, police would not respond to the area.