Long Beach police release video of officers fatally shooting a man on church steps

Video released by Long Beach police Saturday shows portions of a standoff outside a neighborhood church that led to officers shooting a man whose family said he was suffering a mental health crisis.

Brandon Boyd, 38, was fatally shot by police hours after police showed up in response to text messages reporting a man with a gun. His family has criticized how police handled the situation.

Officers who arrived at Iglesia de Cristo Miel, a church on Atlantic Avenue near 52nd Street, had tried to de-escalate the situation with a hostage negotiator and a mental evaluation team in the hours before the shooting, the Long Beach Police Department said.

A SWAT team was brought in after more than two hours of Boyd not cooperating, according to the department. The roughly 17-minute video released Saturday includes segments from police body cameras showing portions of their interactions with Boyd as he sat on the steps of the church.

At one point in the video, a police officer calls out to Boyd: “Nobody 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 contacted 911 about a man with a gun. Dispatchers had received a series of text-to-911 messages shown in the video. As they talk, the police officer repeatedly asks Boyd whether he has a gun and asks him to put his hands on his head and walk down the steps.

Boyd expresses concern about other people in the area, saying he wants to give the police time to clear traffic.

“I don’t want this to be about nobody else. ... Move the traffic because I just seen a lot of kids,” he says in the video.

He later tells an officer, “You cannot help me. ... At some point I’m gonna force your hand.”

The body camera exerpts were interspersed with written descriptions of what the department said had unfolded. Authorities said members of the SWAT team used a flash-bang device and foam projectiles as part of an “arrest plan.”

After police deployed the flash-bang, Boyd reached behind his back, grabbed something and pointed it, security video from inside the church shows. Police said Boyd fired a handgun at officers.

Four officers fired back, police said. Boyd was shot and was pronounced dead at the scene. One officer was struck in the arm and was treated at a hospital.

The Long Beach Post reported that authorities believe one of the shots fired by Boyd wounded the officer, but Boyd’s family has suggested that he could have been injured by fellow officers.

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson acknowledged in a statement Saturday the deep pain and grief the shooting had caused the community. Richardson said he had been in constant communication with police Chief Wally Hebeish and had “advocated for transparency and the timely release of critical documents in order to ensure clarity 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 demonstrating the citywide commitment to transparency and accountability,” he said. “We will continue to prioritize these values throughout this difficult time.”

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At a news conference with Black Lives Matter Grassroots members last month, Boyd’s family members decried the actions of police that November night. His sister said her brother had six children who are now without a father.

He “was peaceful and in need of help,” Tiffany Boyd told reporters. “Despite this, the police decided to escalate the situation by deploying a flash grenade, a violent and unnecessary act that led to the fatal shooting” of her big brother.

In a statement released Sunday by Black Lives Matter Grassroots Long Beach, Tiffany Boyd said “the video shows much of what we know. Brandon was in distress, he needed help, and the police department escalated the situation.”

The group said that “in the brief video clip produced by the LBPD, it is clear that in the moments before his life was stolen, Brandon was following police orders and had his hands clearly out in front of himself.”

The footage, which covers only portions of the hours of interaction between Boyd and police, leaves many of their questions unanswered, BLM Grassroots Long Beach said, including “what is missing from what the police have released?”

Members of the group also denounced the treatment of three of Boyd’s family members following the shooting, saying police had handcuffed and mistreated them, leaving one with a fractured arm. Police told the Long Beach Post that three people had been arrested for disrupting the crime scene and that one had battered an officer.