A maintenance worker at the scene told the Long Beach Post that he had encountered the man before police arrived. The worker, who asked not to be named because he was still upset, said he was painting an apartment building when he stopped for a drink of water. It was then that he saw the man running towards him and up his ladder. Once the man got up, the worker said, the man hit the ladder and refused to come down. A man is seen sitting on a roof in the background. Photo by Fernando Haro. The worker said the man appeared to be upset or having an episode, so he offered him a drink of water before seeing the gun and running away. The police soon arrived and surrounded the building. A video provided by a neighbor shows the man holding and waving something shaped like a gun. He paces back and forth on the roof, sometimes shouting, “I’m not showing it.” Police said they tried to de-escalate the situation while setting up a perimeter, activating SWAT and leading residents to safety. In the video, police periodically fire less-lethal foam projectiles at the man, some of which bounce off his body. When he reaches out with what appears to be the pistol inside, there is a sound of more rounds and he collapses onto the roof. Police said he was pointing the gun at officers, “causing the officers to discharge their pistols and an AR-15 patrol rifle.” After being shot, the video shows the man sitting on the roof and someone yelling “help” before the video ends. Another video shows him standing up and stumbling before sitting down again and falling forward. Police said the man “continued to operate the weapon in his hand and refused to comply with multiple commands to drop the weapon” before he “ultimately became unresponsive.” About an hour and a half after the shots rang out, heavily armed officers in tactical gear climbed a ladder to the roof. Officers in plainclothes just approached the man. He appeared to be unresponsive and officers could be seen performing chest compressions after apparently dragging him away from his gun. pic.twitter.com/jDUqENzcOJ — Long Beach Post (@LongBeachPost) July 9, 2022 After he was dragged away from his gun, officers were seen performing chest compressions. Fire crews soon evaluated the man and pronounced him dead, police said. No officers or bystanders were injured. The victim of the initial kidnapping and assault is expected to survive, police said. Editor’s note: This story was updated Sunday morning with more information from police.
