A team of LAPD Officers engage, shoot, and attempt to tourniquet an armed suspect.

The Rampart Division of LAPD recieved reports of a female suspect in a trench coat, on foot and armed with a large handgun. The video footage begins with two LAPD officers spotting and making contact with the suspect. At 0:09 seconds, the officers spotlight the suspect to the right of the car and stop, repeatedly telling the suspect to show her hands, testing the limits of professional language. Bodycam footage from the driving officer begins at 0:18 seconds; the passenger's footage was unusable due to poor placement. At 0:26, the officer notices and warns his partner that the suspect "has a handgun." At approximately 0:28, the suspect raises the weapon and the officers open fire. They are joined in the salvo by a third officer, who is positioned by a cruiser beneath the overpass behind the suspect- his body camera's position also failed to visually record the shooting and is not included herein. At 0:58, enhanced imaging clearly shows the suspect point the weapon at the officer's partner, which resulted in her being shot several times. Radio traffic of the incident reports several gunshot wounds to lower extremities. Picking up at 1:04, bodycam footage from backup shows another responding officer failing to untangle and utilize a tourniquet as the suspect, still concious, bleeds out; the officer recording takes over and applies the tourniquet at 01:30. At 02:04, a supervisor orders the officers involved in the shoot to seperate and not talk, ostensibly to avoid any chance of a false narrative being corroborated.

Unfortunately, the suspect died from her wounds. Furthermore, the weapon was found to be a CO2 powered pellet gun.

Author's Note/Opinion: The verbiage I've used here might seem a little angry- this was a nightmare to watch. I was able to glean a little over 2 minutes of usable footage from an event where several officers were present, due to poor placement of the bodycams. That 2 minutes is rife with immediate unprofessional language and behavior. What is omitted after the shooting is largely indecisive conversation about tactics, communication, and who's allowed to touch what or talk; all the while, the suspect is bleeding out. Time is therefore not on the suspect's side when the officers finally tourniquet her, and more time is wasted due to poor staging and handling of the tourniquet. While I cannot guarantee it would have saved her life, her odds would have been better without this clearly evident lack of training. I made sure to emphasize this footage as an example of what not to do. The failure to properly render aid combined with the concern regarding who gets to talk to whom, and use of legal jargon ("the article" as opposed to gun/weapon) indicate a deeply ingrained focus on the wrong priorities- CYA with Internal Affairs versus potentially saving a life. While the officers had no way of knowing it was a pellet gun, and were thus justified to shoot, the fact that it was a pellet gun only makes this incident more tragic. -C Simms

About the Author

Cole Simms

Cole Simms is an Air Guardsman, NASA enthusiast, police officer, and security contractor with particular experience in austere environments. Outside of work, he volunteers as a Stop The Bleed instructor for area schools. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and blends his knowledge and experience to write analysis for Funker530.