Video released by Long Beach police on Saturday shows a standoff outside a neighboring church that led to police shooting a man whose family says he was suffering from mental illness.
Brandon Boyd, 38, was shot and killed by police outside a Long Beach church after officers responded to reports of a man with a gun. His family criticized the way the police handled the situation.
Police arrived at the Iglesia de Cristo Miel, a church on Atlantic Avenue near 52nd Street, to try to defuse the situation with the hostage-taker and a forensics team in the hours before the incident, the Long Beach Police Department said.
A SWAT team was called in after Boyd was uncooperative for more than two hours, according to the department. The nearly 17-minute video released Saturday includes portions of police body cameras that show parts of their interaction with Boyd as he sits on the church steps.
At one point in the video, the officer yells at Boyd: “No one wants to hurt you, OK? We just want to see what’s in your hand.”
Boyd tells the officer that he was the one who called 911 about the man with the gun. Dispatchers received a series of messages to 911 shown in the video. While they were talking, the policeman kept asking Boyd if he had a gun and asked him to put his hands on his head and go down the stairs.
Boyd expressed concern for other people in the area, saying he wanted to give the police time to clear the traffic.
“I don’t want this to talk about anyone else. … Move the traffic because I just saw a lot of children,” he said in the video.
Later he tells the officer, “You can’t help me. … Sometimes I will force your hand.”
The body cameras were combined with written descriptions of what the Department said had happened. Authorities said SWAT team members used a flash-bang and foam projectiles as part of an “arrest strategy.”
After the police made the noise, Boyd reached back, grabbed something and pointed to it, a security video from the church. Police say Boyd fired a gun at officers.
Four officers fired back, police said. Boyd was shot and pronounced dead at the scene. One police officer was hit in the arm and was treated in hospital.
The Long Beach Post reported that authorities believe one of the shots fired by Boyd struck an officer, but Boyd’s family suggested he may have been injured by other officers.
Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson acknowledged in a statement Saturday the deep pain and sorrow caused by the community. Richardson said he has been in constant communication with Police Chief Wally Hebeish and “was advocating for transparency and the timely release of sensitive documents to ensure transparency and maintain public trust.”
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the city’s Police Oversight Commission will also investigate the incident, Richardson said.
“Importantly, this process includes input from our residents, giving the community a voice and showing the city’s commitment to transparency and accountability,” he said. “We will continue to prioritize these values during this difficult time.”
At a press conference with Black Lives Matter Grassroots members last month, Boyd’s family members condemned the actions of the police that November night. His sister said that his brother had six children who are now fatherless.
“He was quiet and in need of help,” Tiffany Boyd told reporters. “Despite this, the police decided to escalate the situation by setting off an explosive device, a violent and unnecessary act that led to the fatal shooting” of his elder brother.
Tiffany Boyd could not be reached for comment Saturday night. Representatives of the Long Beach chapter of Black Lives Matter Grassroots did not immediately comment on the video.
The members of this group also criticized the treatment of three members of Boyd’s family following the shooting, saying that the police handcuffed them and tortured them, one of them broke his arm. Police told the Long Beach Post that three arrests were made for disturbing the scene and one for assaulting an officer.
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