The state Department of Justice announced on Friday, July 5, that it is reviewing the July 4 death of a man in Hemet under a state law that requires the DOJ to investigate the fatal shootings of unarmed civilians by police.
Hemet police said in a news release on Thursday that they received a report of a drunk man walking out of a downtown bar with a gun in his pants. Police arrived and shot him, the release said. He died at the scene.
The release did not say why officers fired at him. A police spokesman on Friday would not answer that question, citing the state investigation.
The man’s name had not been publicly announced as of Friday afternoon.
The DOJ’s definition of “unarmed” comes with some nuance. For instance, if a person has a weapon on him at some point during a confrontation with police, but does not have access to it when he is shot, he is considered unarmed.
The DOJ is investigating about 45 cases. It has completed 12 investigations since the law went into effect in July 2021, including three shootings in the Inland Empire, four in Los Angeles County and two in Orange County.
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