A Southern California police officer fatally shot a 23-year-old black man who was blocked by a building when he tried to flee, according to officials and the video of the incident.
In a video statement Tuesday, San Bernardino police chief Darren Goodman said two officers in uniform Saturday in an unmarked car responded to reports of an armed black man in the parking lot of a business.
Goodman said when officers arrived, a man with a gun, identified as Rob Marquise Adams, began walking toward the car.
But the young man’s mother, Tamika King, insisted she had a mobile phone, not a gun, in her hand and was talking to her just before police arrived.
King said Adams could be seen in the video celebrating his friend buying a new car.
“I just got a new car, they both have BMW twins,” King told reporters.
“You can see my son dancing because he didn’t know what was going on. He was dancing. And I was on the phone and everything I heard after that was shot. He never said goodbye to me. He never said goodbye to me.”
Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump disputed the police account of the shooting.
“He heard the shots, heard the shots in quick succession and then didn’t hear his son’s voice again,” Crump said.
The edited video released by police, which is graphic and captures the shooting, shows two men in the parking lot. One of them appears to be pulling what looks like a pistol from his waist, according to Goodman.
“Officers got out of his vehicle and gave verbal orders to Adams, but he immediately ran towards two vehicles parked with the weapon in his right hand. Officers chased Adams briefly, but seeing that he had no way out, they believed he intended to use the vehicles as cover to shoot them, ”he said.
“Fearing that the lives of spectators or officers were in danger, one of the officers fired his weapon and struck Adams.”
The body camera video released by police appears to show an officer running towards Adams, who runs away from officers but cannot go any further because he is blocked by a building. In the clip, the officer shoots Adams, who falls to the ground.
It is unclear how many times he was shot.
The video shows the officer, with the weapon still unsheathed, approaching Adams.
“Hey brother, you’ll be fine, man … Stay with me, okay?” the officer is heard saying in the clip.
Goodman said officers provided Adams with medical help, but that he died at a nearby hospital.
But another lawyer representing the family, Chris O’Neal, disputed the police narrative that Adams received immediate help.
“This man was running away and he was shot in the back several times,” O’Neal said. “He was not given the decency and courtesy of emergency medical care in a timely manner.”
Goodman said he recovered a 9mm Taurus G3c with one round in the chamber and 10 in the magazine. The other man who was with Adams was arrested and released.
He and other witnesses told investigators Adams did not respond to verbal orders to drop the two officers’ guns, police said.
Goodman said Adams was suspected of a previous armed robbery at the scene where he was shot. And “he was at large on probation for armed robbery, and had crime orders for assault with a deadly weapon, possession of stolen property and theft,” according to the chief.
The San Bernardino police department is conducting an investigation into the deadly shooting, while the San Bernardino district attorney’s office is conducting a separate but parallel investigation, Goodman said.