SandyMaloneLas Vegas, NV – Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) released bodycam footage on Tuesday of a fatal shooting that occurred when an armed suspect refused to follow officers’ commands during a traffic stop on Friday (video below).
At about 4:45 a.m. on April 6, LVMPD Officers Francisco Rivera and Padilla Mills were responding to another call when they observed a vehicle driving recklessly and executed a traffic stop, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
They pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road, and the 22-year-old driver, Junior David Lopez, jumped out of the car as soon as he stopped, KSNV reported.
“Hey, what are you doing? Stay in the car man,” the officer said in the bodycam video.
Lopez disregarded the officer’s instructions, and fully exited the vehicle.
In the video, he then dropped a hat and a handgun on the ground, and fell to his knees nearby it.
“Don’t move! Do not move!” police commanded him.
But Lopez continued walking, on his knees, closer to the weapon that was sitting on the pavement just a couple feet away from him. He didn’t stop until he was right beside the gun, within easy reaching distance, the video showed.
“Shoot me. Just shoot me,” Lopez can be heard saying to the officers, over and over.
“Don’t reach for the gun man, don’t reach the gun…” an officer can be heard saying, but he’s cut off by the sound of a gunshot when Lopez reached for his gun and the officers shot him.
Lopez fell forward slowly, onto his stomach, but he didn’t stop moving after he was shot, the video showed.
Officers ordered him not to move as he appeared to be trying to reach for the handgun that was only inches away from him.
An officer called for an ambulance but his radio transmission was repeatedly interrupted as Lopez kept reaching for his gun, and officers had to yell at him to stop.
“His 413 is about one foot from his left hand,” an officer said into his radio, advising the dispatcher that the suspect’s gun was very close to him, a split second before the driver reached again and police shot at him a second time.
Police were still yelling at him to stop reaching for his gun when the video ended.
Lopez was transported to the hospital, where he later died.
KSNV reported there were two female passengers in the vehicle with Lopez, but neither was injured during the incident.
They told police and reporters a different story that conflicted with what can be clearly seen in the bodycam video, according to KSNV.
You can see the video of the incident below. WARNING – Graphic Content: