Sandy MaloneSan Bernardino, CA – San Bernardino police officials released bodycam video of a fatal officer-involved shooting in front of an illegal gambling operation on Saturday after a false narrative that the suspect was unarmed outraged the community (video below).
The incident occurred at about 8 p.m. on July 16 when two officers in an unmarked patrol vehicle responded to the parking lot of an illegal online gambling business located in the 400-block of West Highland Street for a report of a man with a gun, KTTV reported.
“The officers didn’t just do a random stop or profile a black person,” San Bernardino Police Chief Darren Goodman told KCBS. “They were called.”
Security video from the parking lot showed that two men were in the parking lot when the unmarked sedan pulled in.
In that video, it appeared that one man walked toward the car and two officers jumped out, chased after him, and shot him, prompting outrage in the community over the false narrative that police had shot an unarmed black man in the back.
Amid the outcry, police released video from another angle that showed 23-year-old Robert Adams pulled a gun from waistband before he started walking toward the unmarked police car.
Two uniformed San Bernardino officers jumped out of the car with their weapons drawn, the videos showed.
Chief Goodman said the officers feared being pinned in their car by the gunman, KCBS reported.
The chief said officers gave the men commands to stop and one of the men complied, KTTV reported.
“I think the big difference is who complies, who follows commands, and who doesn’t,” he said.
Adams turned and fled with the gun in his right hand, the video showed.
When he turned and looked back at the police pursuing him, one of the officers opened fire, KTTV reported.
Chief Goodman explained why the officer fired, KCBS reported.
“And his perception was that the subject was going to turn and possibly shoot him, his partner, or some of the bystanders who were in that parking lot as well,” the police chief said.
Family members who claimed to have been present when Adams was shot claimed that police made no effort to save the suspect’s life after he was wounded, KCBS reported.
But police officials released bodycam video that showed the officers rendered First Aid and actually picked up Adams and carried him from behind the cars where he had fallen to an ambulance that had just arrived.
Adams was pronounced dead at the hospital, KCBS reported.
The officer who shot Adams has been placed on paid administrative leave while the officer-involved shooting is investigated.
Adams’ family has hired anti-police civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump to represent them, KTTV reported.
NEWS ALERT: @AttorneyCrump and co-counsel Bradley Gage have been retained by the family of 23-yo Robert Adams, who was killed by San Bernardino (CA) police officers on Saturday. The officers, driving an unmarked car, confronted and shot Adams in the back multiple times. pic.twitter.com/9QWNdzs464
— Ben Crump Law, PLLC (@BenCrumpLaw) July 19, 2022
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content:
Holly Matkin
