Long Beach police release video of police shooting at MacArthur Park

An armed man, who had a gun in his jacket pocket and was slowly backing away from Long Beach officers at MacArthur Park, pulled out the weapon and briefly extended it outward away from his side before bringing it down when he was shot twice by one of the officers, body-worn camera footage released Friday by the Long Beach Police Department shows.

The suspect fell backwards, the video shows. The officer who fired told Washington to “let go” of the gun still in his right hand, but Washington appeared to raise his right arm before the officer fired one more shot.

The man, identified by police as 46-year-old Donald Washington, was taken to a hospital, but died, police said.

Officers were called to MacArthur Park, in the 1300 block of Anaheim Street, around 4:20 p.m. on April 17, on a report of a man with a gun, police said. Two officers arrived in a squad SUV and drove on the grass to a man matching the description given by the caller, the video shows.

The two officers got out of the SUV and drew their service weapons as the man slowly started to walk backwards away from them with both his hands in his jacket pockets, the video shows. The suspect was standing next to three park tables with at least two other people nearby. Three other people are seen on surveillance video at tables a short distance away.

Both officers gave the suspect commands to take his hands out of his pockets, drop the gun and get down on the ground as they continued to slowly walk toward him as he backed away. The suspect asked “Why?” multiple times.

The suspect at one point backed into a table before changing direction and continuing to walk backwards away, the video shows. He then took his left hand out of his jacket pocket, revealing nothing, but Washington later quickly took the gun out of the other pocket with his right hand before one of the officers fired twice.

The suspect did not fire his weapon, nor did he appear to point it directly at officers or anyone else at the park before the officer fired.

The suspect was holding a loaded handgun with what appeared to be rubber bands wrapped around the handle.

It was a little more than a minute from the time the officers got out of the SUV to the time the first shots were fired, the video shows.

The Long Beach Police Department was continuing to conduct a “multi-level review process” of the shooting, while the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office was conducting a separate investigation, police said.

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