On Wednesday, the police chief in Fresno, California, said he released video footage of a fatal shooting that happened last month involving four police officers and a 19-year-old unarmed man. Chief Jerry Dyer said he wanted the public to better understand the incident.
Dyer called the footage, recorded on body cameras worn by the officers, "extremely disturbing." The video shows officers pulling over Dylan Noble, who was white, in his pickup truck. Dyer said officers were responding to reports of a man armed with a rifle. One officer is heard asking Noble multiple times to show his hands, and after he exits the car, he is seen approaching officers, then retreating.
After being asked several more times to show his hands, lift his hands, or go down on the ground, Noble turns to face the officers, then reaches behind his back; Dyer said at that point he appeared to be carrying an object that could have been a weapon. One officer shoots Noble twice, and he falls to the ground. The video shows Noble then rolling over and looking as if he is putting his hand into his waistband and under his shirt, the Los Angeles Times reports. The officer fires a third round at him, and more than 10 seconds later, another officer fires a fourth round. It was later determined that the object in his hand was a small plastic container of malleable clay.
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Dyer said he can understand why the last two gunshots are being questioned, and he is waiting for an internal probe and an investigation by the Fresno County district attorney's office to be completed. The graphic footage can be seen at the Los Angeles Times.
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