The video offers new details about the July 16 police killing of 23-year-old Robert Adams, who the family says may have been unaware of the presence of law enforcement until officers emerged from an unmarked car with guns drawn. “The way they got there was like some gang members getting ready to drive through,” his father, Robert Adams Sr., told HuffPost. “They never rolled down the window and said, ‘This is the police.’ All we can see is that they jumped out of the car and immediately started opening fire.” The San Bernardino Police Department said it received a call from a “citizen informant” on July 16 saying “a black male armed with a gun was in the parking lot” of what authorities said was an illegal online gambling operation. According to police, two officers conducting “surveillance” in the area went to the parking lot and saw Adams holding a gun in his hand. Police said they found a loaded gun at the scene, but his mother disputes he was armed. Tamika Deavila King, Adams’ mother, told HuffPost he was on the phone with her talking about his best friend getting a new car. King said her son was holding a cell phone, not a gun, when police arrived. Body camera footage shows Adams about 100 feet from the unmarked officers’ car. He took a few steps toward the car, though it’s not clear he knew the officers inside. Robert Adams in a family photo. As Adams walked up to the unmarked vehicle, both officers jumped out. Body camera footage shows an officer with his gun already drawn as he exits the vehicle. Surveillance footage from a nearby business shows the officers getting out of the car with their guns pointed at the 23-year-old. Adams began running in the other direction toward two cars and a wall in the parking lot, according to body cam video. Officers said they gave verbal commands to Adams. Police Chief Darren Goodman said in statements accompanying the dashcam video that officers “believed” Adams intended to use the two parked cars as cover to shoot them. But before Adams could turn or find cover, an officer fired at him. The shots rang out within seconds of Adams returning from the police. Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump, who drew attention to the shooting on social media and appeared at a news conference with the family on Wednesday, said King heard the shots over the phone.
In the video, Adams is seen lying on his back near a brick wall. While the officers were trying to render aid, a person in distress could be heard in the background. “You shot my cousin, bro,” the person said on the body cam footage. While the officer told Adams he would “be fine” and “stay with me,” he kept his gun pointed at him. Adams was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Crump posted the surveillance video on social media Monday, sparking outrage. “Police in San Bernardino, California fatally shot 23-year-old Robert Adams execution-style! It is reported that Robert did not know there were police officers in the unmarked car before he ran for his life. We need a full investigation into this horrific execution!” Crump tweeted. Goodman, the police chief, said the area Adams was in was known for crime and that he was a suspect in a previous robbery. It is unclear if the officers knew at the time that Adams was a suspect. “The video that has been posted online does not provide critical details or context as to what actually happened during the event,” Goodman said, referring to the surveillance footage. Adams’ family called for more police accountability and questioned the tactics of the officers involved. His father told HuffPost that police shot his son in the back and the bullet also went through his arm. Adams’ birthday was June 1, and the two celebrated together last month, his father told HuffPost. King, Adams’ mother, told CBS Los Angeles that her son was not a threat to police and was “running for his life.” King called for Goodman to be removed as police chief. She told HuffPost that she wants the officers involved in her son’s killing to be stripped of their badges and charged criminally, with the assailant charged with murder. “He murdered my son in cold blood,” she told HuffPost.