The Long Beach Police Department released a video on YouTube Nov. 18 of an officer-involved shooting that occurred on Oct. 31.
It appears that the incident was an attempted suicide-by-cop.
At approximately 1:04 a.m. on Oct. 31 officers were sent to the 1900 block of Harbor Avenue in response to a 911 call saying a man was firing a gun at people in the area of Harbor Avenue and 20th Street, according to LBPD.
“I heard him shoot. He was shooting at people. He ran around and ran around the block […] and came back and started shooting in the air. Please send help,” the caller can be heard saying to the 911 operator in the video.
“Okay, well I wonder why no one else there is calling about that?” the 911 operator asks.
“I have no idea. I don’t know,” the caller replies.
In video obtained by a home security camera, the suspect points what appears to be a firearm as the first officer arrives in a police vehicle.
The officer then responds by discharging his weapon, and runs from the police vehicle.
The police vehicle was still in drive and continues rolling until it goes off screen.
A second officer soon arrives and the suspect is ordered to get on the ground. He then gets on the ground face down with his hands extended above his head.
When asked if he’s been shot, the suspect tells police he was hit in the foot.
Police order the suspect to crawl to the police vehicle and lay on his stomach again, before cuffing him.
The suspect was detained. He is described as a 28-year-old male.
After being detained, it was confirmed that the suspect was the one who called 911 on himself, and that the call had been made from his phone.
The suspect also had a suicide note in his right shoe, which he alerted officers to after he was detained.
“I just want you guys to kill me,” the suspect says in the video, “That’s all I was trying to do.”
The weapon the suspect pointed at officers was a CO2-powered paintball pistol and was recovered by police.
According to LBPD, the suspect was transferred to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries to his lower body.
A 2009 study published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences looked at 707 officer-involved-shootings and found that 36% were instances of someone attempting suicide-by-cop.
The Long Beach Prosecutor’s Office has charged the suspect with one count of reporting a knowingly false emergency, one count of reporting a knowingly false felony crime, and two counts of exhibiting an imitation firearm in a threatening manner.
According to LBPD, the suspect is currently in the custody of the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
