Officer fatally shoots refugee

Man extended hands in ‘shooting stance,’ police spokesman says

EL CAJON, Calif.—The fatal police shooting of a Ugandan refugee who drew something from his pocket and extended his hands in a “shooting stance” happened about a minute after officers in a San Diego suburb arrived at the scene where a mentally unstable man was reportedly walking in traffic, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

It took police more than an hour to respond because of other calls, El Cajon Lt. Rob Ransweiler said. Officers arrived at a parking lot next to a Mexican fastfood restaurant at about 2:10 p.m. and the man was shot about a minute later.

Mayor Bill Wells said he was concerned about the short time from the officers’ arrival to the shooting, though he said video taken by a bystander was enlightening and he didn’t think it was “tremendously complicated to figure out what happened.”

Police said the man had refused to comply with instructions to remove a hand from his pants pocket and paced back and forth before rapidly drawing an object from the pocket.

Some protesters said he was shot while his hands were raised in the air, though police disputed that and produced a single frame from the cellphone video to back their account.

The image showed the man in what police called a “shooting stance.” His hands were clasped together and he was pointing directly at an officer who had assumed a similar posture a few feet away. That officer fired his handgun and a second officer, farther away, simultaneously fired his electric stun gun, Chief Jeff Davis said.

Davis would not identify the object the man was holding, but said it was not a weapon.

Wells was asked how he would feel if it was his child that had been shot.

“I saw a man who was distraught, and a man acting like he was in great pain,” Wells said. “And I saw him get gunned down and killed. If he was my son, I would be devastated.”

The victim was identified as Alfred

Olango.

The single photo is all police released depicting the incident that sparked angry protests by demonstrators demanding more information and wanting to know how police could shoot an unarmed man.

Candles and flowers were left Wednesday at the shooting scene, near bloodstains on the pavement.

Dozens protested outside the police station Wednesday, holding signs that read “No Killer Cops!” and chanting “no justice, no peace,” and “black lives matter.”

The fatal shooting happened less than two weeks after black men were shot and killed by police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Charlotte, North Carolina, where violent protests broke out.

Experts said it was too early to conclude whether the California shooting was justified or could have been prevented, though it does raise questions about how police deal with mental illness, which officers are increasingly confronting nationwide.

El Cajon gives officers basic training to deal with mental illness, though neither of the officers who responded were among those specially trained to respond to such incidents, Wells said. Those officers weren’t available.

A distraught woman who identified herself as Olango’s sister said in a video in the aftermath of the shooting that she had called police three times to help her brother, whom she described as mentally ill. She had told police he was “not acting like himself.”

“I just called for help, and you came and killed him,” she shrieked.

Chuck Drago, a former Florida police chief who consults about police use of force, said officers ideally should have spoken with the sister when they arrived at the scene to learn whether he was dangerous, so they could take measures to avoid a confrontation.

Whether they spoke with the sister or were even told about her by dispatchers, however, is unknown.

Once the man struck the shooting pose, Drago said officers would have had to react quickly if he drew an unknown object from his pocket.

“An officer doesn’t have enough time to wait to determine if that’s a gun in his hand,” Drago said.