A video shot by a teenager captured footage of California police fatally shoot a man Tuesday — in addition to her raw reaction.
“Why the f*** did you guys shoot him?” Yoanna Prieto, 19, can be heard screaming at officers in the video. “F***ing idiots! You guys are f***ing idiots!”
Watch the footage (content warning: mature content and vulgar language):
Officers had first been called to the scene after a woman reported the unidentified man exposed himself, attempted to force his way into the central California residence and tried to kill her dog.
“Officers found the man walking down the street with gardening shears in his hand,” Salinas police Cmdr. Vince Maiorana, told the Monterey Herald.
“Officers end up talking to this individual, trying to find out what he’s doing and what the situation was based upon the original 911 call,” he continued. “This individual started to wave the gardening shears at the officers. We tried to deploy a Taser; the Taser did not work and as the officers tried to detain this individual, this individual pulled the gardening shears and actually attacked the officers with the gardening shears.
“In response, the officers, fearing for their personal safety, shot this individual and he is now deceased,” Maiorana concluded.
An investigation into the incident is now underway by the department. The district attorney will then complete a separate investigation and will be “the ultimate deciding authority,” Maiorana told the Herald.
Video of the incident quickly went viral after Prieto uploaded video on her personal Facebook page. According to the Herald, she provided the footage to officers before posting the footage online. In her post, she reportedly apologized for her vulgar language.
The video provides a graphic account of the incident, recording the unidentified man’s final moments after being shot multiple times by officers. Maiorana said both cops fired at the man.
“There’s some split-second decisions that have to be made by the officer,” he told the Herald. “When the officer commanded this individual to drop the shears and to get down on the ground, this individual actually attacked the officer with the gardening shears.”
