Vadim Sashchenko draws a gun, then throws it into the street right as Officer fatally shoots him

Vancouver, Washington - A man appeared to draw a gun and then throw it into the street right as a Vancouver police officer, who has now shot and killed three people in four years, opened fire.

The Vancouver Police Department on Friday released new footage that shows Vadim Sashchenko, 43, pulling a gun as he walked north near the city’s waterfront and brandishing it as Officer Brandon Riedel approached in a police cruiser.

Riedel got out of the car and fired four shots at Sashchenko in roughly three seconds, killing him, the footage shows.

Investigators identified Riedel for the first time Friday morning.

Riedel previously shot and killed 41-year-old Andrew Williams, who in January 2020 had broken into his off-and-on girlfriend’s apartment and was carrying a screwdriver when Riedel and another officer confronted him.

Riedel also shot and killed 43-year-old Joshua James Wilson, a suspect in multiple armed robberies that detectives had attempted to ambush outside a Safeway in June 2023. Wilson had aimed a gun at officers, body camera footage showed.

The investigation into Riedel’s latest shooting is being led by officers from multiple departments in southwest Washington. State law requires the deadly force investigation to exclude the Vancouver Police Department and be led by a patchwork of officers from around the region.

Riedel is on paid leave. He joined the police department in 2018 and is a member of the regional SWAT Team, according to investigators.

Officer Stuart Drynan, who witnessed the shooting and captured it on body and dash cameras, is also on paid leave. He joined the police department in 2023.

Sashchenko, who is seen in the video walking a German shepherd, had drawn police attention around 1:45 p.m. when people at the city’s waterfront called 911 to report an “aggressive” German shepherd had bitten someone.

According to Vancouver police, 911 callers also told dispatchers that the dog’s owner carried a gun.

Around 3 p.m., according to police, officers spotted Sashchenko and the German shepherd walking north on Columbia Way, a narrow street that runs between the waterfront and the Interstate 5 Bridge.

As Riedel begins to park his patrol car, he is heard on his body camera radioing that Sashchenko “is just flipping us off and walking away.”

Sashchenko, footage shows, held the gun and then aimed it toward Riedel as the officer was nearly finished parking. As Riedel swung his car door open and aimed back, Sashchenko threw the gun in the road and kept walking north.

Riedel fired two shots in a quick burst before Sashchenko’s gun landed on the ground, the footage showed. The officer then fired two more shots as Sashchenko crumpled to the ground.

An unidentified officer on scene fired a foam round – a less-lethal weapon used by police – at the German shepherd to get close to Sashchenko. But Sashchenko died at the scene, police said.

The German shepherd was taken to the local humane society, police said.