Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies have fatally shot a man in Lynwood. Called to the scene because he had a gun, the officers continued firing multiple rounds into the man’s back even as he crawled away.
The man was judged to have been acting erratically and there were reports he was firing his gun into the air at a busy intersection in the LA area. An official report, according to the Los Angeles Times, details how the officers responded to the messages of shots being fired at around 11am on Saturday, near the intersection of Long Beach Boulevard and Magnolia Avenue.
The two officers had asked the man to lay down his gun, but he continued shooting in the air before allegedly pointing the gun at them. That is when the officers are said to have started firing.
No threatening behavior could be seen from the video shot by a witness. While the footage filmed from inside a building across the road does not show the exact moment that led to the shooting, it does depict the man walking away from the cops with his back turned, and them firing again and again at his body even as he crawled away, before lying motionless.
A loaded .45-caliber handgun was recovered at the scene, presumably belonging to the victim.
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The police would not release the suspect’s name, but relatives have identified him as Nicholas Robertson, 28.
The police say that multiple narratives still need to be examined, and witnesses questioned.
“In this modern age of cellphone video and instant analysis on the internet, I would ask that we keep in mind that a thorough and comprehensive investigation is detailed and time-intensive,” Sheriff Jim McDonnell said. “It will involve not just one source of information, but numerous sources, potentially including multiple videos, physical evidence and eyewitness accounts.”
The words come at a tense period for America, where protests over police-related civilian shooting deaths have been sweeping the nation. LAPD alone have dealt with several controversial cases in the last two years, including one involving an unarmed homeless man, which has still not been solved.
Lynwood is no exception, and more than a dozen people have come out to voice their protest over this latest death, gathering at the gas station on Saturday evening, with signs and megaphones, chanting “No more stolen lives!” as police in helmets looked on.
Relatives who saw the video claim the shooting was unjustified.
“They shot him,” a relative of the victim’s wife, Tracy Brown, 47, told the LA Times. “They shot him. As he crawled, they continued to shoot him.”
Police are searching for any additional videos of the incident. Other agencies will be joining the investigation in the coming weeks. Homicide and Internal Affairs will also take part, police wrote in a statement to the press.