Police said the situation began with a 911 call about a man with a gun around 11 a.m. in the 1000 block of East 17th Street, which is just east of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. When officers arrived, they found the man on top of the two-story building.
A maintenance worker at the scene said he was one of the people who encountered the man before police arrived. The worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was still shaken, said he was painting the apartment building when he stopped drinking water. Then he saw the man running towards him and climbing his ladder. After the man got up, the worker said, the man knocked over the ladder and refused to come down.
Police swooped on an area near a poly high school after reports of a man with a gun on a roof. Photo by Fernando Haro.
The worker said the man appeared to be upset or having an episode, so he offered him a drink of water before he saw the gun and ran off. Police soon arrived and surrounded the building.
Video footage provided by a neighbor shows the man holding and brandishing a gun-shaped object. He paces back and forth on the roof, sometimes yelling, “I’m not directing it.”
In the video, police repeatedly shoot him with less-lethal foam rounds, some of which bounce off his body. As he extends his hand with what appears to be the gun in it, there is the sound of more gunshots and he tumbles onto the roof. He is sitting on the roof and someone yells “help” before the video ends. Another video shows him standing up and stumbling before sitting down again and slumping forward.
Police said they tried several de-escalation techniques before shooting the man. They could not immediately confirm whether the man was struck by the gunfire or confirm how he died. They also could not immediately confirm whether the gun he was holding was a real firearm or a replica.
“We’re still investigating and it’s going to be a lengthy investigation,” Officer Paige White said.
Police said they could not immediately say the exact time officers shot the man. If accurate, metadata from the video provided to the Post indicates it was around 11:30 a.m. when gunshots appear to ring out.
After police shot the man, heavily armed officers in tactical gear climbed a ladder onto the roof around 1 p.m. The man appeared unresponsive as they approached.
Officers in tactical gear simply approached the man. He appeared unresponsive and officers could be seen giving him chest compressions after they apparently wrestled him from his weapon. pic.twitter.com/jDUqENzcOJ
— Long Beach Post (@LongBeachPost) July 9, 2022
After removing him from his apparent weapon, officers could be seen performing chest compressions. Fire crews soon examined the man and stopped all treatment.
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