The Long Beach Police Department has released a “critical incident video” in which police in June shot and wounded a woman who pointed what turned out to be a fake gun at them.
The video, released Wednesday as required by state law, shows police at an apartment complex on June 16 in the 1000 block of Long Beach Blvd after getting 911 calls reporting a woman with a gun. A responding officer shot and wounded a woman after she pointed what police suspected to be a gun – but it turned out to be just replica of a gun.
The critical incident video begins with audio from a 911 call. The caller, after reporting a woman with a gun, tells the dispatcher they could not tell whether the gun was real or fake. The caller says it looks like an airsoft gun.
Video footage then shows two officers getting out of an elevator and walking into an apartment complex hallway; the footage shows the officers coming into contact with two people. One officer points his gun at the two individuals before telling them to “stop.” The second officer asks, “Is that a gun?”
As the incident unfolds, the adult female suspect goes inside her apartment complex as the two officers approach with one gun visibly drawn. The second person outside with his hands up is a security guard who tells officers he was threatened by the suspect with what he thought was a gun. Police tell the man to step back behind them.
A few minutes later the two officers with guns drawn and pointed at the suspect’s door identify themselves and order the suspect to come out with her hands up. The video then shows the suspect cracking the front door open and pointing what officers thought was a gun at them. One officer responds with four shots.
The video, almost eight minutes long, does not include footage of the reported four hours police spent attempting to contact the woman who barricaded herself in the apartment. Nor does the video include footage of SWAT officers arriving and deploying gas.
The police body camera footage ends with the suspect surrendering to officers in the hallway with her hands up.
The woman sustained a gunshot wound to her upper body and was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries before she was booked. No officers were injured.
The CIV indicates officers ended up recovering a black pellet gun.
The released CIV appears to match police accounts of the incident.
California’s Senate Bill 1421 and Assembly Bill 748 requires the release of records, such as police body camera footage and audio, relating to officer use-of-force incidents.