A deadly police shooting in June remained under investigation Tuesday after the Los Angeles Police Department released footage of an officer fatally shooting a man who apparently ran toward authorities while holding a box cutter on a residential street in Atwater Village.
Jose Antonio de Santiago-Medina, a 59-year-old L.A. resident, was pronounced dead at the scene after the incident that happened around noon on June 6 in the 3800 block of Edenhurst Avenue.
LAPD on Sunday published dashboard footage and bodycam videos, one worn by an officer who deployed a beanbag shotgun, a less-lethal weapon, and another worn by LAPD Officer Paul Bernd, who shot Medina with a gun.
Several officers responded to the scene after receiving a radio call about a man “armed with a yellow box cutter,” according to an audio recording included in the incident briefing video released by LAPD.
The man had separately threatened two other men who did not know each other and called the authorities, police said.
In the videos, officers are heard telling Medina to drop to his knees on a sidewalk outside a home.
Medina is seen with his arms up, but he subsequently turns to his side and appears to pull something out of the back of his pants. He then apparently drops an item before picking it up and running to the officers with what appears to be the yellow box cutter in his left hand.
That’s when two officers simultaneously deployed a beanbag shot gun and a firearm at Medina, who drops to the ground.
Bernd is heard confirming that he shot Medina.
L.A. Fire Department responded to the scene and pronounced him dead, according to LAPD. The men who said Medina threatened them were not injured, and the yellow box cutter was recovered, police said.
According to LAPD, Medina had no criminal history nor any prior contact with the agency’s mental evaluation unit.
Per department policy, the chief of police, the Board of Police Commissioners and the Office of the Inspector General will review the investigation of the officer’s use of force. The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office will review the subsequent probe to determine whether or not the officer violated any law, LAPD said.