Hayward police’s body-cam video of shooting of a 37-year-old man raises questions about what really happened

Hayward police released body-worn camera footage Thursday showing officers with long rifles fatally shooting a 37-year-old man, raising questions about whether the man was a threat to police before he was killed.

The video is the first time the Hayward Police Department released footage of the killing of Hayward resident Antonio Lacunas-Escobar. Police initially withheld the video, saying it was to “preserve the integrity of the investigation,” according to a Thursday department news release. The two of the three officers who were involved were identified as Alexander Robinson and Dominic Espino.

The officers were in an elevated area above a parking lot where Lacunas-Escobar was walking and behind a barrier when they shot at him with rifles from afar.

On Sept. 6 at around 9:40 p.m., police responded to a report of a man armed with a silver handgun standing on City Center Drive, according to the release. The caller said that the man pointed the gun at her and a friend when they were driving away.

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Officers arrived and spoke with a nearby Safeway security guard, who told them a man tried to steal items from the store before leaving toward City Center Drive, according to the release. Officers identified the man based on witness descriptions, saying they tried to speak with him but he was “uncooperative and walked away.”

“Hey! Quit grabbing,” one officer can be heard saying in the video. “Stop. He is not complying. He is walking away from us toward the old City Hall parking structure.”

“Hey, he’s got a gun in his hand,” another officer said. The officers then could be heard firing several gunshots.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene; none of the three officers involved in the incident were injured. Police said they found a BB pistol on the ground underneath Lacunas-Escobar’s body, according to the release. They also said the man had turned and “pointed what appeared to be a firearm in the direction of officers.”

Acting Police Chief Bryan Matthews said last month during a news conference that a witness saw Lacunas-Escobar “point a firearm in the direction of officers and an officer-involved shooting resulted.”

The video footage doesn’t appear to show the moment Lacunas-Escobar allegedly pointed a firearm at officers; he appears to be walking away from the police and is at a great distance.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is conducting a criminal investigation into the officers’ actions, according to the release. An independent third-party consultant and their use-of-force experts are also conducting an investigation to determine whether the officers followed Hayward Police Department policies.

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Adante Pointer, a civil rights attorney who has represented families in alleged police brutality cases, including the 2009 killing of Oscar Grant, told The Times that the shooting appears to be “unnecessary” and “unlawful” based on the video.

“It doesn’t appear he made any verbal threats to the officers and didn’t appear that he was even turning towards the officers, but instead was walking straight ahead,” said Pointer, who has reviewed the video footage and hasn’t been retained as a lawyer by Lacunas-Escobar’s family.

Pointer said that under California and federal law, each gunshot has to be “justified,” meaning that officers had to be in imminent danger for every shot that they fired.

“Having a gun or possessing a gun isn’t a death sentence,” he added. “You can’t use deadly force merely because they’re holding or possessing a gun. They have to be threatening with it.”