Video shows LBPD officer shooting fleeing gunman who had just attacked someone • Long Beach Post News

Long Beach police today released a video in which an officer witnesses a shooting, runs after the gunman and then shoots him from behind shortly after he apparently discards the weapon.

In the video, the shooter, who survived, is soon arrested, but not before the man he shot drives by and tells the officer, “You saved my life.” The victim then walks away, refusing officers’ requests to remain at the scene.

It is unclear why the shooter, whom police identified as 43-year-old Demetrius Imoesiri of Long Beach, opened fire.

The video begins with Imoesiri apparently exchanging words with the victim outside a supermarket on Orange Avenue near South Street at around 11:45 p.m. on April 26.

When Imoesiri draws his gun and fires, the officer who happens to be driving by immediately stops and runs after Imoesiri, who runs away across the parking lot toward a nearby residential area.

As Imoesiri runs away, the police officer shoots him seven times from behind, hitting him in the lower body. The video shows Imoesiri throwing the gun away about two seconds before the police officer fires the shot.

When the chase is over and Imoesiri is on the ground, the officer radios a dispatcher that Imoesiri “threw the 417 right behind me.” Long Beach police use the radio code “417” to designate a weapon.

Long Beach police said they are currently investigating the shooting, as they do every time police officers shoot someone.

LBPD policy allows officers to shoot fleeing suspects if necessary, but only if an officer has “reasonable cause to believe that the person will cause death or serious bodily injury to another person if not immediately apprehended.”

Ed Obyashi, a Northern California sheriff’s deputy and nationally recognized expert on use of force, said the pursuit of the gunman, whom he had just seen attempting to kill someone, was clearly justified. But whether the officer was justified in shooting “is really inconclusive.”

Obyashi said the video was choppy and difficult to analyze, but the shooter appeared to have something else in his hands even after dropping the gun – something the officer could have perceived as a weapon – which made him reasonably fearful of being shot.

“I have seen many videos of suspects shooting behind their backs or over their shoulders while running,” Obyashi said.

As Imoesiri lies wounded on the ground, the officer repeatedly shouts at him to stretch out his hands in front of him. Only a few moments later, he radios the operations center to report the discarded “417”.

As with every police shooting, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the incident.

According to police, Imoesiri was charged with attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms, illegal possession of ammunition, possession of firearms while subject to a restraining order and resisting police.