Footage Released of Officer-Involved Shooting in Gilroy
GILROY (CBS SF) -- Police in Gilroy recently released disturbing new video of a fatal officer-involved shooting that happened last month.
The suspect tried to turn himself in, but then started shooting at police. That's when an officer returned fire, killing the suspect.
The incident happened one month ago on September 7th at the post office in downtown Gilroy. Attempted murder suspect David Lopez called Gilroy police and told them he wanted to turn himself in.
It was 2:31 a.m. when Lopez called 911 and admitted he was drunk and high under the influence of other substances. He said wanted to meet an officer at the post office.
The dispatcher asked him twice if he had any weapons.
"Oh, no. You know that I'm not. I wouldn't be calling you guys if I was," Lopez is heard saying in audio from the call.
Lopez is seen in the new video recently provided by police of the incident, wearing a white t-shirt and standing under the overhang. Approaching officers knew Lopez was wanted for a violent felony.
As officers arrived, they asked him "to lay in the prone position."
The first officer arriving rolled up slowly in a patrol vehicle and tried to talk to him on the car's public address system. Lopez then started shooting, with one of his bullets striking the officer's patrol car.
At this point, investigators say Lopez's gun malfunctioned and he drew a second gun. The officer then returned fire.
A second officer then arrived on scene. Investigators say Lopez pointed his gun in that officer's direction. The first officer re-positioned himself and fired another two rounds.
One of the bullets hit Lopez, and he died a short time later. That moment is seen captured on the officer's body worn camera.
No officers were injured in the exchange of gunfire and no bystanders were hurt.
In all, a combined total of 7 rounds were fired and only one officer returned fire.
Anita Lopez and Sandra Arellano are David Lopez's sisters. They say the video put out by the police was highly edited, and are asking for the complete footage of the incident to be released.
"No family wants to go through this. They didn't have to shoot him in the head. They could have shot him in the leg or the arm," said Lopez.
"The footage doesn't show everything. It was like paused in the beginning. So who knows if he shot first or not? That what it looks like in the video."
When asked if she trusted the system to hold the officers accountable, Arellano replied, "No. There had to be more than one body cam, other videos that are not being shown or released."
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office released a statement that read in part, "It is the DA's role to determine if the shooting was lawful. If we decide it was lawful, we will release a public report detailing our decision – as we do with all such cases. If it is not legal, according to our review, then we will charge."
