By Amanda Lee Myers
Associated Press
LYNWOOD, Calif. — When deputies confronted a man carrying a handgun in a Los Angeles suburb, the fatal shooting that unfolded was notably different from some other recent flashpoints in the debate over police use of force: The suspect was armed and in an area crowded with people.
Friends and relatives of Nicholas Robertson quickly questioned the police tactics that led to his death, particularly why officers fired at a person who was apparently moving away from them and why they kept firing even after he crumpled to the ground.
But law-enforcement professionals said Monday that the shooting did not immediately appear to share much, if anything, in common with other police shootings that have resulted in criminal charges against officers.
Robertson was killed by officers Saturday after witnesses reported seeing a man firing a handgun into the air six or seven times and briefly going inside a car wash and a pizza parlor.
Video of the shooting, released by the sheriff’s department the next day, showed deputies shooting at Robertson more than 30 times. A close-up image showed him stretched out on the pavement holding a gun.
Deputies first spotted him in front of a gas station in the south Los Angeles County suburb of Lynwood, where two women and three children were inside a car. They ordered him to drop the weapon, authorities said.
Robertson refused and at one point pointed the gun in the deputies’ direction, according to police.
Jim Bueermann, president of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Police Foundation, which is dedicated to better policing, said the shooting is “as different as night and day” when compared with other recent killings, such as the slaying of Walter Scott, an unarmed South Carolina man who was shot in the back as he ran away from an officer.
“This guy has a gun. He’s been firing it. He refuses deputies’ orders to drop the gun. I think people might see some similarities, but there are distinct factual differences that people have to consider in terms of public safety.”
Bueermann, who was also a longtime police chief of the Redlands Police Department, near San Bernardino, said the fact that Robertson was in a busy commercial area also heightened the risk.
“You cannot let someone armed and firing a weapon” approach a mother with kids shopping or some guy walking along and minding his own business, he said.
The police, he added, “have an obligation to people in that area to protect them.”
When Robertson collapsed, “his arms were underneath him, and the gun was still in his hand. There was never a time when the weapon was not in his possession,” homicide Capt. Steven Katz said Sunday.
The suspect’s gun was not loaded, Katz said, but detectives found two live rounds “in his grasp.” The gun was not registered to Robertson and has not been reported stolen.
Robertson’s wife told the Los Angeles Times that her mother-in-law had called her shortly before the shooting to say Nicholas Robertson was under the influence of alcohol. Authorities were looking into whether he had been involved in a domestic dispute.
As the investigation proceeds, deputies will need to explain why they opened fire and continued to shoot after Robertson fell to the ground.
“They are going to have to articulate why they made every one of those shots,” said Ed Obayashi, an Inyo County deputy and an attorney. “They must show they reasonably used deadly force.”
Robertson’s mother and aunt said he had no history of mental illness, and that they don’t know how he would have obtained a gun.
His aunt there was no need to shoot him that many times if he was on the ground, crawling away.
“He was still back turned, walking away. Then the gunshots rang out. Then he was crawling away. So you can’t tell me you felt like you were in danger,” said Cassandra Howard, who also lives next door to where Robertson lived with his children and grandparents.
On the day he was killed, Robertson seemed to be in good spirits and was excited to attend his older brother’s wedding in Long Beach, relatives said.
The last time Robertson’s mother saw him, he was looking for dresses for his two daughters at her house.
Robertson, a stay-at-home father of three, was black. Katz said the deputies were not white, but he would not release their backgrounds.
One officer had been working in the field for about a year and the other, for about 18 months.
Bueermann said the experience of deputies is rarely a factor. He said he’s seen longtime officers make bad choices and rookies who used good judgment.
Robertson’s aunt said the family believes the shooting was entirely about Robertson’s race, and she wants the officers involved removed from the force.
“He was a good father and son. He took care of his children,” Howard said. “This shouldn’t have happened to him. Just like it shouldn’t happen to all the others that we see across the United States.”
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press