San Diego Police fatally shoot black man 'behaving erratically' in El Cajon, sparking protests

The man has not been formally identified

A stil from a witness video taken of the shooting in San Diego (El Cajon Police Department )

An African American man said to have been mentally ill has died in El Cajon, California, after being shot by police.

The man, who is believed to have been in his 30s and has not been identified, was alerted to the El Cajon Police Department in San Diego following reports he was behaving “erratically” police said.

The police said in a statement the man refused to remove his hands from his pockets, pacing back and forth in front of the officers before he “rapidly drew an object from his front pants pocket, placed both hands together and extended them rapidly toward the officer taking up what appeared to be a shooting stance”.

The two officers at the scene deployed their weapons, resulting in the man being simultaneously shot and tasered. He was transported to hospital and later died from his injuries.

The LA Times reports that a weapon was not recovered from the scene.

The shooting sparked outrage within the community, with a group of 100 people gathered at the site of the shooting in protest on Tuesday night. Friends of the man’s family claimed he had suffered from a mental illness and posed no threat to the officers, the newspaper reported.

Michael Ray Rodriguez, who told the newspaper he was driving away from the apartment building at the time of the shooting, said he witnessed a shirtless black man stood with his hands in the air seconds before hearing the officer shoot. He claimed the officer fired his gun and “shot him again and again,” and said he believed he heard five shots in total.

The shooting comes days after a state of emergency was declared in Charlotte, North Carolina, after violent protests errupted over the killing of African American Keith Lamont Scott by police. Winesses said Mr Scott was unarmed and disabled, and a video of the shooting has been released to his family.

El Cajon police do not currently wear body cameras, but one witness has handed over a video they recorded of the shooting to authorities.

Police have not released the video but have released one stil showing the two officers pointing their weapons at the man while he pointed his clasped hands at an officer.

The officers involved will be placed on administrative leave while an investigation is carried out, in line with the department’s police, El Cajon police said.