Bodycam video shows Long Beach police officer shoot fleeing gunman who’d just shot at someone

Long Beach police today released video footage of an officer witnessing a shooting, running after the gunman, and then shooting the man from behind moments after he appeared to have ditched the weapon.

In the video, the gunman — who survived — is soon taken into custody, but not before the man he shot at drives past and tells the officer, “You saved my life.” The victim then leaves — rebuffing the officers’ plea for him to stay at the scene.

It’s not clear why the gunman, whom police identified as 43-year-old Long Beach resident Demetrius Imoesiri, opened fire.

The video starts with Imoesiri appearing to exchange words with the victim outside a convenience store on Orange Avenue near South Street around 11:45 p.m. on April 26.

When Imoesiri pulls out the gun and fires, the officer, who happened to be driving by, immediately pulls over and starts running after Imoesiri, who takes off across the parking lot toward a nearby neighborhood.

As Imoesiri runs, the officer fires at him seven times from behind, hitting him in the lower body. The video appears to show Imoesiri throwing the gun about two seconds before the officer starts firing.

With the chase over and Imoesiri on the ground, the officer uses his radio to tell a dispatcher that Imoesiri “tossed the 417 right behind me.” Long Beach police use the radio code “417” to refer to a gun.

Long Beach police say they’re reviewing the shootings — as they do every time officers fire at someone.

LBPD policy allows officers to shoot at fleeing felony suspects if necessary, but only when an officer “reasonably believes that the person will cause death or serious bodily injury to another unless immediately apprehended.”

The officer was clearly justified in chasing after the gunman, whom he’d just seen try to kill someone, according to Ed Obyashi, a northern California sheriff’s deputy and state-recognized use-of-force expert, but whether the officer was justified in shooting “really is inconclusive.”

Obyashi said the video is jerky and hard to parse, but the gunman appears to have had something else in his hands even after dropping the gun — something the officer could have perceived as a gun — leading him to reasonably fear being shot.

“I’ve seen lots of videos where suspects have shot behind their backs while they’re running or over their shoulders,” Obyashi said.

As Imoesiri lies wounded on the ground, the officer repeatedly yells at him to put his hands out in front of him. It’s only a few moments later that he radios to tell dispatch of the discarded “417.”

Police said Imoesiri has been charged with attempted murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, illegal possession of ammunition, possession of a firearm while subject to a restraining order and resisting police.