Black man fatally shot while running away from California police

A Southern California police officer fatally shot a 23-year-old Black man on Saturday as he attempted to run away.

Robert Adams was hanging out in a parking lot in San Bernardino when two cops rolled up, hopped out of an unmarked car and gunned him down. Less than five seconds passed between the cops exiting the car and one officer killing Adams.

Police claimed that Adams was carrying a gun while acting as a security guard for an illegal gambling business. They shared grainy photos of Adams carrying something in his right hand and claimed to find a gun on his body.

Adams’ family spoke with KCBS and confirmed Adams was working security but claimed he wasn’t holding a gun.

“I could understand if he was a threat to them,” Adams’ mother Tamika Deavila King told the station. “But he was not a threat to them. He was running for his life.”

San Bernardino police said they got a call around 8 p.m. Saturday about a man in a parking lot with a gun. Two cops, who have not been identified, were in an unmarked vehicle conducting surveillance.

The video shows Adams standing casually in the parking lot, briefly chatting with another man and then strolling in the direction of the unmarked car. Two officers then burst from the car. Adams sprints in the other direction, running between two parked cars. One officer opens fire and shoots Adams in the back.

Adams later died at a hospital in San Bernardino, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, police said.

The police statement was defiant, slamming the surveillance video as failing “to provide any details or context” about the incident. The Guardian reported that neither officer was placed on leave.

The surveillance video had no sound, and Adams’ family is demanding that the officers’ body-camera video be publicly released.

“It is unbelievable that another Black family has to bury their child due to police shooting first and asking questions later,” said prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Adams’ family.

“Robert appeared to be simply walking around the parking lot when officers exited their unmarked vehicle firing their weapons at him immediately. Robert never even had a chance to explain himself.”