Video captured by surveillance cameras in a parking lot in San Bernardino, a California city an hour east of Los Angeles, showing the police killing of a 23-year-old African American man has been circulating online. The episode, American media reported, happened around 8 p.m. on Saturday. The victim, Robert Adams, was in the parking lot when in the video we see the arrival of a car, from which two police officers run out with guns. The young man tries to flee, but one of the two opens fire from a few meters away, causing him to fall to the ground.
Video of the murder went viral on the internet, sparking national outrage. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump – quoted by the Guardian – called it a “horrific execution,” while Adams’ family urged authorities to file a murder complaint against the agent. who has not been identified. The murder comes weeks after police in Akron, Ohio fired more than 60 shots at Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old black man who was on the run.
The San Bernardino Police Department said in a statement that the two officers were part of a “specialized investigative unit” and were “conducting surveillance in an unmarked vehicle” after they “received news that a black man armed with a gun was on the street.” parking lot was. The surveillance footage has no audio, but the department said officers issued orders to the young African-American man after he got out of the car and Adams had a gun in his hand as he fled.