A detective’s bullet during a police shooting inside a 7-Eleven last week ricocheted, hitting one of the victims inside the store and resulting in minor injuries to his upper body that paramedics treated at the scene, authorities said.
Police made the announcement on Friday after receiving a forensics report the day before, they said.
The police shooting killed 18-year-old Jordan Griffin who, along with 22-year-old Devontae Moore, is suspected of multiple armed robberies in Long Beach.
That night, detectives had been conducting surveillance on a Nissan Altima believed to have been used in several armed robberies when they followed Griffin into the 7-Eleven on Pacific Coast Highway near Clark Avenue around 11:30 on September 19, police said. There, detectives said they saw Griffin attempting to rob the store with a what appeared to be a gun. The detectives told Griffin to drop the gun several times and he didn’t comply, which led them to fatally shoot him, according to LBPD.
Police later discovered the gun Griffin was holding was a BB gun.
In its initial press releases, police said the three other people inside the store—one employee and two customers—did not report any injuries. A spokeswoman said the department didn’t believe anyone was injured from the incident at the time and they were waiting on the forensics report.
The department also announced that a search of the Altima yielded items “that further link both suspects to the series of armed robberies detectives believe they are responsible for.”
Moore was charged with six counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery, one count of attempted burglary and one count of assault with a deadly weapon. He is being held on a $450,000 bail.