Fountain Valley police release video of officer fatally shooting a suspect near middle school

Body-worn camera footage from a police officer who shot and killed a suspect in January was released on Wednesday by the Fountain Valley Police Department. The video shows contentious moments leading up to the officer’s fatal use of force.

The incident occurred while officers were responding to a call on Friday, Jan. 24, authorities said. A dispatcher received a call from a concerned community member, detailing a situation where a man had attempted to pull open the door of a woman’s car near Masuda Middle School.

An officer made contact with the suspect — identified as Osean McClintock, 26, of Fountain Valley — near the intersection of Brookhurst Street and Slater Avenue. The officer asked McClintock to take a seat, and shortly after refusing to do so, he started running through several parking lots, the video shows. The officer gave pursuit on foot but the suspect gained distance.

McClintock then advanced on another officer seated in her police vehicle, and he wrestled a handgun away from her. In the footage, the officer can be heard pleading with the suspect not to shoot her as she gets up from the struggle and takes cover behind a postal service vehicle.

The second encounter between police and the suspect occurred near the intersection of San Mateo Street and El Corazon Avenue, near the police department headquarters across Slater Avenue.

Upon hearing the confrontation break out on a police radio, the initial officer sprinted to the location and told the suspect to put the weapon down, the footage shows. McClintock instead climbed inside the driver’s seat of the police cruiser. The first officer fired three rounds as McClintock was closing the door, then an additional seven shots, shattering the driver’s side window and shooting the suspect.

Fountain Valley police and fire department personnel provided medical aid to McClintock after he was removed from the vehicle, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

No further information was released.