Police kill ‘gunman’ with 25 shots as he crawls away

The sheriff’s department released the calls on Sunday in addition to the security video showing Robertson stretched on the ground with a gun in his hand.

In less than minute, Robertson was back outside, just as two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies pulled up in their patrol cars.

Two deputies fired 33 bullets at the gunman after Robertson refused to drop the gun and walked across a busy street to a gas station where a family was pumping gas.

The 28-year-old suspect’s death sparked a makeshift memorial and anti-police protests at the site of a gas station where police unleashed a barrage of more than 30 bullets at Nicholas Robertson.

On Sunday, officials released footage that appears to show Robertson carrying a gun; a few close-up images appear to show Robertson still holding the weapon while on the ground.

Witnesses reported seeing Robertson behaving erratically and shouting expletives, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. Steve Katz said.

Deputies caught up with Robertson as he was crossing Long Beach Boulevard toward an Arco gas station. The first call came in at 10:53 a.m. “We do have evidence that the suspect did fire the weapon multiple times prior to the interaction with the deputies”, Katz said as he referred to 911 calls made to the department. The reports only said Robertson died at the scene.

Witnesses in the immediate area told investigators they saw the suspect turn and point the gun at deputies before the shooting, Navarro-Suarez said. The deputies fired 33 shots, and Robertson died at the scene. ― Reuters picPolice say they recovered a loaded.

The activists want the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the shooting and launch a broader probe into the use of force by the Sheriff’s Department. Detectives are trying to track it, Katz said. “He appears to be agitated”, Katz said. Toxicology tests were underway to determine whether Robertson had consumed alcohol or drugs.

Katz declined to comment on why the deputies fired so many times, how many times Robertson was shot or when in the shooting he was hit, saying the coroner’s office has yet to complete its autopsy.

Sheriff Jim McDonnell planned to discuss the shooting at a news conference on Sunday. “There’s going to be criticism any time there’s a deputy-involved shooting”.

“The sentiment across America has been critical”, the sheriff added. “That’s why we… try to be as transparent as we can with the information that we can share to say, hey here’s what we have, here’s what we know about it, with the caveat that there’s more investigation to be done”.

He said one deputy fired 17 shots, and another fired 16. Nekesha Robertson described her husband as a devoted father who was not involved in crime and was a stay-at-home father to the couple’s 7-year-old daughter and 6-year-old twins-a boy and a girl.

Mr Robertson’s mother-in-law Pamela Brown told KTLA: “When they shot him in the shoulder and I see him falling – that’s injustice, for me”.

“In this modern age of cellphone video and instant analysis on the Internet, I would ask that we keep in mind that a thorough and comprehensive investigation is detailed and time intensive”, he said in a statement. Even if he had a gun, “that didn’t give them a right to kill him the way you all killed him”.

The man’s sister, Precious Bradford, told KABC that the deputies should face prison time for killing her brother.

The gun was not registered to Robertson and has not been reported stolen.