Newly released body camera video shows a Long Beach police officer firing three separate volleys of bullets at a man who charged at the officer with a knife and then repeatedly tried to stand up after being wounded by the gunfire.
The officer first fires when the man raises the knife and comes toward him. The man, apparently wounded, is knocked to the ground and drops the knife. The officer, who continues telling the man to drop the knife even though it’s already on the floor, fires again when the man tries to get off the ground. In the video, which includes written descriptions of the action, the Long Beach Police Department says the officer mistakenly believed the man was still armed.
After the second volley of bullets, the officer appears to realize the knife is on the ground. When the man crawls toward the weapon, grabs it and begins to stand up, the officer shoots him again.
“Drop the knife man, we’re trying to help you out,” the officer yells after firing the final rounds.
He and other officers then approach the man, who is motionless on the floor even as he’s still holding the knife. The man, whom police identified as 38-year-old Eriberto “Eddie” Penaloza, later died at a hospital from the gunshot wounds.
As is typical with all police shootings, the LBPD is reviewing the case to see if the officer’s actions were within departmental rules. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office is also examining the situation to see if the officer’s actions were legal, which is standard procedure in such cases.
Police declined to say what their review has found so far, but an outside expert said in an interview that the officer’s actions are likely justified because he was reacting to a “highly volatile” and “extremely dangerous situation” where he believed an armed man was trying to attack him.
By the LBPD’s account shown in the video, which the department released Wednesday, the situation began on Nov. 8 when Penaloza’s mother and brother called police.
Penaloza, they said, had stabbed himself and his mother. They were now hiding in a bedroom at their home.
At one point, Penaloza said he “needed to kill the family but he couldn’t,” according to a recording played in the video of a dispatcher relaying information to officers rushing toward the scene.
When the first officer arrives, he’s able to get into the home through an unlocked door but quickly encounters Penaloza in the kitchen. As other officers open a window to get to Penaloza’s wounded mother, the confrontation in the kitchen quickly escalates.
Penaloza, who is already covered in blood, says “I didn’t want to do it,” and “They told me to do it,” several times before raising the knife and charging at the officer.
In the video, Penaloza appears to be in a mental health crisis. He’s in a “different zone” as he engages with the officer and repeatedly tries to get up after being shot, said Edward Obayashi, a lawyer and former Plumas County sheriff’s deputy who advises departments throughout California about use-of-force incidents.
“It’s not the officer’s fault he’s in that zone,” said Obayashi, who believes the officer’s actions were justified.
Obayashi said officers had to act quickly considering they were called into a situation where Penaloza had already stabbed his mother, was armed with a knife, had expressed his intent to kill and had access to a firearm due to his job as a security guard.
“This guy is still going after the knife and trying to kill [the officer]. They had to put an end to this immediately,” Obayashi said after watching the video.