Video shows California police attempting to calm 17-year-old boy before fatal shooting
A 17-year-old San Bernardino boy who broke into a North Long Beach home in April threatened to kill himself or have officers shoot him, body-worn-camera footage shows, before he allegedly pointed a replica firearm at a policeman and was shot to death.
Long Beach officers attempted to de-escalate the tension for about 90 minutes, ordering the suspect to put down the firearm so they could talk. They reassured him multiple times that they didn’t want to hurt him, the video released by police on Wednesday, July 24, shows.
At one point, the suspect points the replica firearm to his head. Later, he asks for a bottle of water and an officer throws one to him.
The suspect was identified by the medical examiner’s office as Brandon Salgado.
The released body-worn camera footage does not capture any visual of the shooting, as the camera of the officer who fired was covered while he was stationed behind a patrol SUV.
“Who was that?” one officer asks after the shot was fired.
“That was me,” the officer who fired says. “He’s moving. He pointed a gun at me.”
Other officers were inside the house when the shot was fired, police said. They went out and attempted to help the suspect until paramedics arrived. Salgado died at a hospital of a gunshot wound to the chest.
About 8:35 p.m. on April 26, police were called to the 6800 block of Cerritos Avenue on a report of a man with a gun inside a house, police said.
The house’s surveillance video shows a man wearing a hat, and a bandana covering part of his face, walking up to the home, opening a metal gate to the courtyard and then using a crowbar to open a metal door to get into the house.
Inside was a 17-year-old boy and his grandparents.
That boy would tell a freelance videographer that the suspect “started pointing a gun at me, and he asked for everything I had.”
It is unclear why that house was targeted. The residents didn’t know the suspect.
The grandmother called 911 from another room, while the grandfather remained with the suspect, according to a portion of the 911. Officers arrived to find the suspect had jumped through a window into the courtyard. Other officers opened a rear door to help the family escape.
One officer arrived, as Salgado pointed the gun to his head, and began trying to negotiate with him to put the weapon down.
“What can we do to help you right now?” the officer asks at one point. “Everything is OK right now, all we (have to) do is put (the gun) down.”
After the officer tosses the bottle of water, he tells the suspect, “I held up my end of the bargain. You gave me your word.”
The shooting, by a different officer, occurred about 10 p.m.
Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office is investigating the shooting because, under California law, it does so when law enforcement shoots what is considered an unarmed suspect.
The police shooting was the first of two in Long Beach that night. Less than two hours later, an officer on patrol near Orange Avenue and South Street saw a man fire shots at another man in a liquor-store parking lot, authorities said. The officer stopped his SUV as the suspect ra away, then fired seven shots at the suspect as he gave chase, hitting the man in the lower body and causing him to fall to the ground.
The suspect survived his injuries and was arrested.