Fresno police on Friday released body-worn camera footage of officers killing a man on the lawn of the historic Meux Home. Police responded to the scene after a man who works at the Meux Home, which is on Tulare and R streets, reported an apparent break-in on Jan. 13, the video shows. Two officers arrived — a man and a woman — and found 26-year-old Edgar Mendoza, who they ordered to get on the ground, video shows. Mendoza spoke mostly Spanish to the officers, video shows, but also spoke in English at one point. Video from the female officer’s camera shows Mendoza throw a punch at the male officer.

That officer used a Taser, which brought Mendoza to his knees before he pulled out the Taser’s projectiles, video shows. Mendoza then stood up, picked up a hammer and charged the male officer. The officers fired at least four rounds as Mendoza fell to the ground. The two officers involved have not been identified, but Chief Paco Balderrama previously said they had more than 10 years each with the department.

PRIOR TO THE EVENT THAT SAME DAY
Just before 6:00 a.m. on November 5, 2021, CMPD officers responded to the 6700 block of Winding Cedar Trail in the Hickory Grove Division. The call was in reference to a subject (Derrell Raney), who said he found two dead bodies behind the address. Officers searched the area and found no evidence or validity to Raney's claims. Members of CMPD's Crisis Intervention Team also responded. They urged Raney to be evaluated at the hospital but he refused any kind of treatment. The officers found Raney to be lucid and not a danger to himself or others, so they did not have cause to seek involuntary commitment papers on the family's behalf. Officers reached out to Raney's family to notify them of the situation and explain how to seek an involuntary commitment order.

LATER THAT DAY
Around 4:30 p.m. later that afternoon, CMPD officers responded to 9025 Albemarle Road in reference to an unrelated call for service. While addressing this call, officers responded to a subsequent, yet separate, call for service at the Food Lion next door at 9021 Albemarle Road. While officers were addressing this call for service, Walmart security approached officers and stated that someone pointed a firearm at one of their security guards in the parking lot in the 9100 block of Albemarle Road.

Just after 5:50 p.m. Officers Longworth and Edmunds were flagged down by Walmart security and responded to a different area of the parking lot to investigate the information they received from the security personnel. The security guard pointed them in the direction of Raney who was seated in the grass with a backpack in front of him and his right hand concealed inside the backpack. Both officers gave verbal commands to Raney to show them his hands. Raney did not comply and removed the firearm from the bag while keeping it partially concealed.

The officers continued to command Raney to drop the firearm. Raney then began to raise the firearm up in the direction of the officers. Officer Edmunds and Officer Longworth discharged their service weapons. The officers secured Raney's firearm. Arriving officers began life-saving efforts. Raney was transported to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased around 6:30 p.m.

Fresno police released video Friday from officer-worn cameras from the night a man tried to commit “suicide by cop,” according to police. The 26-year-old man identified as Ryan Brooks was critically wounded in the shooting about 10:30 p.m. Dec. 22, according to police. Officers shot Brooks outside Fort Washington Fitness, where the call appeared to originate, at the shopping center near North Friant Road and Fort Washington Avenue in northeast Fresno. The video shows the officers fire more than a dozen rounds, and continue to fire after Brooks went to the ground. Police say he was still a threat as he was seated. Lt. Bill Dooley said Friday that the officers involved have not been named but returned to work after a routine paid leave of absence related to the shooting.

He told The Bee that police would not say Friday how many rounds were fired or how long either officer has been with the department. Dooley said the video includes all of the information that investigators are ready to release and nothing further was available Friday to protect the investigation. “An officer-involved investigation is a thorough investigation,” he said.

It only came to light later, according to police, that Brooks himself made the 911 call that brought officers to the scene, where they found him driving erratically in the parking lot before stopping in a dirt field on the southwest corner nearest to Woodward Park. “I’m at Fort Washington Fitness,” he says on the 911 call. “There’s someone driving around saying they’re going to start shooting people.”

The newly released video also shows an officer speaking to Brooks over the phone as the officer is on his way to the scene, but Brooks does not admit to the intentions police have said he had. Police have said Brooks was trying to draw the attention of officers, and, when they stopped him, acted suspiciously with his hand in his pocket. He pulled what appeared to be a gun from his pocket and took a “shooter’s stance,” police said, before he was shot by two officers. Officers can be heard in the video repeatedly telling Brooks to take his hand out of his pocket, and saying “I’m going to shoot you” at least once. Brooks had his right hand in his pocket and his left arm was straight at his side, video shows, before pulling his hand out quickly. He was holding a green plastic toy gun in an effort to commit “suicide by cop,” Deputy Chief Burke Farrah said on the night of the shooting by police.

Upon reviewing the video, the community advocacy organization “Fresno Building Healthy Communities” demanded police reform and action to be taken by the City of Fresno and the Fresno Police Department. The organization characterized the police shooting of more than a dozen rounds as “recklessly fired” and said the community’s safety was put at risk. “This latest case involving Mr. Brooks further demonstrates that the Fresno Police Department is not equipped to respond to mental health calls,” the organization said in a news release. “We cannot allow this violent behavior to continue. Fresnans are still demanding real reform. It is unacceptable to continue to pay for a public safety system that is not safe at all.”

Attempts by The Bee to reach Brooks were unsuccessful. He has been released from Community Regional Medical Center, according to a hospital spokesperson. Brooks faces possible criminal charges for resisting police and brandishing an imitation firearm, both misdemeanors, police have said. The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office has not received reports from investigators that would allow prosecutors to decide whether to charge Brooks, according to Assistant District Attorney Jerry Stanley, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office. Brooks has not been charged as of Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco police held their required town-hall meeting after SFPD fatally shot and killed a man at San Francisco International Airport who allegedly brandished replica guns.

Police released video from the Jan. 20 incident, including police-worn, body-camera footage. The shooting of Nelson Szeto, 37, is being investigated by California State Attorney General Rob Bonta's office. Police are characterizing the event as a 'suicide by cop.'

At Monday's virtual presentation, SFPD Commander Paul Yep said, "At one point, Mr. Szeto told officers to shoot him." Yep continued to say Szeto said things like, "center mass," adding, "make sure you aim," and also, "Thank you for your service. I respect you guys." Yep said Szeto also apologized, stating several times that he was sorry.

Yep said officers reiterated that they did not want to shoot the man. Crisis negotiators worked to deescalate the situation. Police also used less than lethal ammunition before firing live rounds.

SFPD were initially called for reports of a man who was acting erratically just outside the international terminal's BART entrance.

Before the shooting, Szeto allegedly pulled out what appeared to be a real gun and a knife. The guns ended up being airsoft guns, which fire plastic pellets. These type of replica firearms normally have orange tips, but in this case they did not.

The department said Szeto had already placed one airsoft gun and the knife down when he was shot and killed by SFPD officers. Police said four officers opened fire when he raised one of those guns towards officers. Police show various angles from the incident.

Police have identified the involved SFPD officers as officers Erik Whitney, Oliver Lim, Steven Uang, and David Wakayama.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The city Prosecutor’s Office said two Honolulu police officers were justified last week in shooting a 48-year-old man accused of running at them with a knife.

At a news conference Monday, city Prosecutor Steve Alm released police body cam and surveillance video of the shooting that shows officers trying to get suspect Ricky L. Kaleopaa to drop the knife. Officers ordered him to drop it at least 25 times before he runs toward them, the video shows.

“He just charges them, really quickly. At that point, he was maybe 10 feet away,” Alm said. “They had no choice but to shoot. The officers in this case did everything right.”

Kaleopaa was critically injured in the shooting and remains hospitalized.

Newly released bodycam video shows a University of Chicago police officer firing across a street at a gunman while repeatedly yelling at him to get on the ground and not move.

The gunman was shot and seriously wounded as he continued to approach the officer, according to the university.

The officer had stopped to investigate reports of a man walking south with a handgun drawn on Woodlawn Avenue at 53rd Street shortly before noon Tuesday.

The gunman started firing as the officer stepped out of his car, according to a statement from the university.

But bodycam video released by the school begins with the officer on the front steps of a home, shouting for a man across the street to “get on the ground, get on the ground.”

Seconds later, the officer begins shooting at the man, firing at least five times. The officer then runs closer to the man, using an SUV for cover while continuing to yell “get on the ground” and firing more shots.

About 45 seconds into the 54-second video, the man can be seen lying on the ground. The officer then radios, “Send an ambulance, he’s hit at least two times, officer-involved shooting.”

The man, in his 20s, was taken in critical condition to the university’s medical center. His name has not been released, though the school’s statement said he is not affiliated with the university.

Shortly after the shooting, police blocked off 53rd Street from Kimbark to an alley west of Woodlawn. Six evidence markers could be seen on the ground.

An employee who answered the phone at Kimbark Liquor and Wine said people ran in the store saying they saw “a guy waving a gun” before shooting erupted. The employee, who asked not to be named, didn’t see the shooting himself.

The Chicago Police Department and university are both investigating the shooting. The officer is being placed on mandatory administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigations, the school said.

In April 2018, University of Chicago police shot a student about a block from Tuesday’s incident after the man allegedly charged at an officer holding a pipe during a possible mental health crisis.

The student, Charles Soji Thomas, was later charged with aggravated assault of a police officer and criminal damage to property for allegedly smashing windows of cars shortly before the shooting. The charges were later dropped.

Students with CareNotCops, a group formed in response to the Thomas case, said it was concerned about the similarities with Tuesday’s shooting.

“From what we know right now, it seems like he was undergoing a mental health crisis, which just further connects it to Soji,” Warren Wagner, an organizer with CareNotCops, told the Sun-Times.

Since the group’s formation, CareNotCops has pushed the university to divest its police force and invest in mental health resources and facilities on campus.

The fatal shooting of graduate student Shaoxiong “Dennis” Zheng this past fall led some members of the university community to demand a larger police presence on campus, but Hala Hersi, another organizer with CareNotCops, said such actions will do nothing to address the root causes of violence.

“Police only ever react to gun violence — there are never any preventative measures,” Hersi said. “If we want to begin actually healing as a community...we must start by ending violent practices of increased policing and surveillance.”

“What we actually need is investment in our communities,” Sahar Punjwani, another organizer with CareNotCops, told the Sun-Times. “We need things like access to mental health resources or the PeaceBook that GoodKids MadCity advocates for, because policing doesn’t solve the issue.”

San Pablo police released surveillance and officer bodycam footage Friday of a man shot dead by officers last month in what was appears to be a deliberate effort by the man to force police to kill him.

The incident happened December 15 after police received a 911 call from a store clerk on the 1300 block of Market Ave. reporting a man was in the parking lot holding a handgun. The clerk told police the man was repeatedly taking the magazine out of the gun and putting it back in and he feared the man was about to enter his business.

The man fled the area in a red pickup before police arrived, but officers found the vehicle heading west on Market Ave. just outside the San Pablo city limits in North Richmond and initiated a high-risk traffic stop.

As officers attempted to communicate with the suspect, they saw he had blood on his hands. In video footage from several police body cameras, officers can be heard repeatedly ordering the man to show both his hands but the man did not comply.

The footage then shows the man stepping out of the truck holding the gun, making a racking motion on the gun with his other hand, pulling it to his chest, and turning to face the officers.

San Pablo police officers Monica Louis, Javier Rios, Shaun Swaleh, and Waseemah Ali opened fire and struck the man. Officers immediately began providing life-saving aid, but he died on the way to the hospital.

It was later learned that the man was holding a BB pellet gun that looked like a real gun. When officers told the man to raise his hands he had instead made a racking motion with the gun, even though there was no sliding mechanism on the gun.

Detectives also learned the man had told a witness of his intention to force officers to kill him. He had additionally made “goodbye” statements to family members earlier in the day, and sent an image of the BB gun to a family member with a message saying “goodbye.”

Based on the investigation, San Pablo police said the incident no longer met the criteria under Assembly Bill 1506 for state prosecutors to investigate a fatal officer-involved shooting of an unarmed civilian. The California Department of Justice identifies a BB pellet gun as a deadly weapon, even if inoperable or unloaded.

San Pablo police are still coordinating the investigation with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office and the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office. Police said it released the bodycam footage and other information on the case in an effort to foster transparency and trust with the community.