Hemet police released body camera footage on Friday, Aug. 2 showing officers shooting a man who was armed with what turned out to be an airsoft pistol.
The shooting happened on July 4, when officers responded to a call from a bar in downtown Hemet shortly after 1:40 a.m. about a man with a gun, according to the police department’s critical incident report.
The caller reported a heavily intoxicated man who “dropped his phone and a gun fell out of his pocket.”
A security guard who was handed the phone told dispatch that the man had apparently put the gun back in his pocket and now was walking across the street.
Nearby security footage showed the man walking with a gun in his hand. Police arrived at the location where the suspect, wearing a black hoodie and grey pants, was last seen walking, near Harvard Street.
At 1:46 a.m., the first officer on scene made contact with the man, who was seated on the sidewalk between Carmelita Street and East Florida Avenue.
“Take your hands out of your pocket,” an officer said. “Put your hands on your head.”
“Don’t move,” another said. “You understand?”
An officer can be heard on the video saying that the man appeared to be sitting on a black pistol grip.
At 1:49 a.m., additional officers now on scene shout “Don’t reach!” at the man and order him to lay on his stomach. Footage shows the man dropping his left hand to pick up an electronic smoking device before dropping his right hand towards the gun.
The video then shows the man picking up the gun and raising it in the direction of police. Officers open fire.
The man, later identified as Jimmy Lopez, a 26-year-old father of two, was declared dead at the scene. The weapon was determined to be an all-black airsoft gun.
Cristian Contreras, the attorney representing Lopez’s family, released a statement on July 25 saying Lopez was unarmed.
“Without conclusive evidence that Jimmy was armed or posed a threat, he was fatally shot multiple times by multiple officers,” Contreras said, adding, “At least 100 rounds were fired at Jimmy.”
Contreras and Denise Gastelum, another attorney representing the family, appeared at a newss conference on July 26.
“Make no mistake – what the city of Hemet did, what those police officers did, was murder a 26-year-old young man,” Gastelum said.
Supporters stood behind the attorneys with several holding signs saying, “Justice for Jimmy.” Among the crowd was Lopez’s mother, Mandy Diaz.
“I’m never gonna see him be a good father to his kids,” Diaz said. “They took his life at a young age. he didn’t deserve this.”
The Hemet Police Department denied that Lopez was unarmed.
“There was no way for officers to know that at the time they encountered the decedent,” the police department said in a statement. “The subject involved in this incident was armed with what, from all appearances, was a gun.”
Contreras said he wants to see the officers criminally prosecuted and that the family would be filing a lawsuit.
The state Attorney General’s office is investigating the shooting.
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