Officers fatally shoot fleeing man

Suspect allegedly had handgun in waistband as he approached cops

San Bernardino police officers conducting surveillance on an illegal casino fatally shot a man who was running away while he was armed with a handgun, the Police Department said Monday evening.

The shooting unfolded Saturday at about 8:05 p.m. when two uniformed officers were in an unmarked car in the 400 block of West Highland Avenue, authorities said in a news release. The officers were informed that a man with a gun was in the parking lot, police said.

When the officers drove into the parking lot, a man pulled a gun from his waistband and walked toward the car, the Police Department said. The officers then got out of their car and gave verbal commands, which were confirmed by multiple witnesses, police said. But the man, who was identified as 23-year-old Rob Marquise Adams of San Bernardino, ran away toward two cars while still carrying the weapon, according to police.

One of the officers fired his gun and struck Adams, police said. It wasn’t immediately clear how many gunshots were fired.

Adams was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

A second man at the scene was taken into custody by police and was later released, police said Tuesday.

A loaded 9mm handgun with a bullet in the chamber, carried by the suspect, was found at the scene, officials said.

The shooting sparked rebuke from Adams’ family, who said in an interview with CBS Los Angeles

that he did not know there were officers in the unmarked car and that he was running away.

“I can understand if (Adams) was a threat to (the officers), but (Adams) was not a threat to them, he was running for his life,” Tamika Deavila King, Adams’ mother, said in an interview with the station.

Adams’ family called for the officers to be brought to justice for his killing and face criminal charges.

Surveillance footage showed Adams running and facing away from the officers when the shooting occurred.

“We are aware of a surveillance video clip circulating online that fails to provide any details or context as to what occurred during the incident,” the San Bernardino Police Department said in its news release. “As with any incident of this nature, we must collect and review all of the information and available evidence, including video, before sharing details.”

Tuesday, San Bernardino City Councilman Ben Reynoso shared his thoughts on the shooting in a Twitter thread and pointed out that Adams did not appear to aim his handgun at the officers and was “fleeing” when he was shot.

“Being that Adams never aimed the gun, was approached by an unmarked vehicle and was shot while fleeing, therefore plausible criminality does not exist,” Reynoso said in a tweet. “In the end, Robert Adams is dead at the hands of the San Bernardino Police Department.”

Reynoso cited 1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision Tennessee v. Garner — also known as the “fleeing felon rule” — which struck down part of a Tennessee statute that permitted deadly force to stop a suspected

felon from fleeing, saying it was “unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment,” according to Supreme Court.

However, the court deemed that an officer may use deadly force in the event the suspect poses a “significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.”

Tuesday, police released a critical incident video with officer body-worn camera footage from the shooting. In the video, Chief Darren Goodman said that Adams was displaying the handgun in his waistband and then pulled it out as he approached the unmarked car.

The officers believed that

Adams was going to use the parked cars as cover so he could fire his handgun at them, according to Goodman. Fearing for the safety of the officers and numerous bystanders, the officer shot Adams, Goodman said.

The location where the shooting happened had a history of “criminal activity” that included Adams as a suspect in an armed robbery, Goodman said. It was not immediately clear when that incident took place.

Body-worn camera footage showed officers rendering aid before he was taken to the hospital. A man in the video could be heard saying that the officers shot

his “best friend.”

“We are asking the community to please withhold their judgment on the situation until they have all the available facts and details,” Goodman said.

The Police Department was conducting an administrative investigation to ensure that department policies and procedures were followed, Goodman said. The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office also was conducting a parallel investigation regarding the shooting, the chief said.

Anyone with information regarding the investigation was asked to contact Detective Billy Flesher at 909-384-5655.