By Andrea Klick
Daily Breeze, Torrance, Calif.
TORRANCE, Calif. — Four officers shot a man to death last month in Torrance after he refused to stop walking toward them holding what they thought was a knife, according to body-worn camera footage released Wednesday, Jan. 15.
The video revealed the man was actually armed with a screwdriver, and that, prior to the police encounter, he appeared to be bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. Audio released by police also recorded the man — for unknown reasons — summoning police to his location.
The man, later identified as 34-year-old Leonardo Diaz of Los Angeles, called police dispatch around 4:40 p.m. on Dec. 2 and reported a man was armed with a gun in the 2900 block of Oregon Court, south of Del Amo Boulevard and east of Maple Avenue, the Torrance Police Department said in a Critical Incident Community Briefing Video.
The video can be viewed here. As a warning, it includes graphic images and language that may be disturbing.
When a dispatcher asked where the suspect was, the caller said he was the one with a gun, according to a recording of the 911 call.
“I’m gonna shoot somebody,” the caller said. “I’m gonna stab somebody.”
The dispatcher asked the caller why he wanted to shoot someone, but the call dropped or hung up, according to the recording. A dispatcher tried to call the man back, but the call hung up again, police said.
Officers responded to the area, and police used technology to locate and identify the caller as Diaz.
Police found Diaz in the driver’s seat of a green Dodge Charger on Oregon and planned to approach him.
An officer told Diaz, who had his driver’s side door ajar, to roll down all of his windows, open his door all the way and make his hands visible multiple times, body-worn camera footage showed.
At one point, Diaz appears to open the door further and look back at officers before pulling the door back again. Officers said they believe he has a knife and is bleeding, according to the body-worn camera footage.
Dispatch audio released by police recorded someone summoning less-lethal resources to the scene, but it wasn’t clear if any officer with a less-lethal weapon was on scene or used such a weapon.
An officer tells Diaz repeatedly to open the door, show his hands and drop the item. Diaz then exits the car and continues to walk towards officers while they tell him to turn around and get on the ground, which he fails to do, the footage shows.
Four officers then shoot at Diaz with lethal weapons. As he falls to the ground, officers continue to command him to drop what they believed was a knife, according to the body-worn footage.
After the shooting, police rendered medical aid to Diaz and contacted paramedics with the Torrance Fire Department, who pronounced Diaz dead at the scene.
Diaz appeared to have multiple wounds to his wrists and body that police believe were there before the shooting.
The shooting remains under investigation, and officials will determine if the officers acted lawfully.
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