NEWS

'A shooting stance'? Black man shot by San Diego-area police dies

Charles Ventura
USA TODAY
Police released this image taken from cell phone footage that purports to show the moments before Tuesday's shooting.

A San Diego suburb braced for more protests Wednesday after the shooting death of a black man by police who was reportedly acting erratically and assumed what officers called a "shooting stance" in the encounter.

Officers were called around 2 p.m. PT Tuesday to the Broadway Village Shopping Center in El Cajon, Calif., about 15 miles northeast of San Diego, after hearing reports of an uncooperative person walking into traffic, El Cajon police said in a statement. They said the man did not have a weapon.

El Cajon Police Chief Jeff Davis said at a news conference: "At one point the male rapidly drew an object from his front pants pocket, placed both hands together on it and extended it rapidly towards the officer taking what appeared to be a shooting stance, putting the object in the officer's face.

"At this time one of the officers discharged his Taser in an effort to subdue the subject. Simultaneously the officer who had the object pointed at him discharged his firearm, striking the male."

He did not say what the object was but acknowledged it was not a weapon. Davis said investigators were reviewing the video and other video recovered from the scene, which so far coincided with the officers' statements.

Authorities said officers provided first aid on the scene and took the man to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Officers described him as an African American in his 30s. The man was named by some media as Alfred Olango, 30.

Davis urged residents to remain calm. “This will be transparent. This will be looked at by multiple sets of eyes, and not just ours,”  he said of the investigation.

The shooting incident comes days after protests broke out in Charlotte, N.C., and Tulsa, Okla., over the officer-involved shooting deaths of Keith Lamont Scott and Terence Crutcher, respectively, prompting people at the scene and online to raise more questions about relations between U.S. law enforcement and black communities.

Charlotte and Tulsa shootings: What police say vs. the families

Following the incident, several people gathered around officers guarding the scene of the shooting, with many chanting "black lives matter!" and "hands up, don't shoot!"

Another protest was scheduled for 9 a.m. PT at the El Cajon Police headquarters that would feature speakers from local churches and the NAACP, according to ABC10News.

News of the officer-involved shooting quickly spread around social media Tuesday night, with many sharing a Facebook Live video by Rumbie Mubaiwa that appeared to capture the aftermath. In it, a woman who says she is the man's sister cries, telling officers she called them asking for help with her brother.

“I said: ‘Take your hand out your pocket, baby, or they’re going to shoot you.’ He said ‘no, no, no,’ “ the woman said. “When he lifted his hand out … he did have something in his hand but it wasn’t no gun, and that’s when they shot him.”

Pastor Russell Bowman, center, prays out loud as people gather at the scene where a man was shot by police in El Cajon, east of San Diego, Calif.

As of early Wednesday, the video had been viewed at least 34,000 times.

A woman working the drive-thru window at a restaurant nearby captured the confrontation on video, the Associated Press reported, citing El Cajon Lt. Rob Ransweiler. The woman voluntarily turned her phone over to investigators and signed a consent form, Ransweiler said. Authorities said this was the only phone provided to officials, denying reports they confiscated additional phones from civilians at the scene.

A new policy by the San Diego County District Attorney’s office requires that police release footage of officer-involved shootings, but it was unclear when that would happen, AP said, citing Ransweiler.

The police department is working on a program to have officers wear body cameras, he added, but none has been issued.

Contributing: Jane Onyanga-Omara