On Saturday, December 12th in Lynwood, deputies responded to a call about complaints of someone randomly shooting rounds in the air with a handgun. Witnesses described the suspect as a male wearing a checkered shirt.
The deputies searched for the suspect based on the reported descriptions. They located the suspect on Long Beach Boulevard and Magnolia Avenue, in front of an ARCO gas station at around 11:00 a.m.
According to the report, two deputies arrived at the scene and commanded the suspect to put the gun down multiple times. The suspect refused to put the gun down and instead, pointed the gun at the deputies. The gun was reportedl a .45 caliber handgun.
A few moments later, the suspect proceeded to walk away from the gas station, but was halted by numerous gunshots fired at him.
Deputies allegedly opened fire repeatedly at the suspect and the suspect fell to the ground. When the suspect was on the ground, the deputies continued to fire, while the suspect was trying to crawl. After being hit with multiple gunshots, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Facebook picture of Nicholas Robertson.
The suspect was identified as 28-year-old Nicholas Robertson. He was a husband and father of three children.
A video was captured by an unidentified witness that showed the incident. Although the video does not show Robertson pointing the gun at the deputies, the witnesses confirmed that he was pointing his handgun at deputies before he started filming the scene.
In the video, we see that Robertson was walking away, but was shot by the two deputies. Then we see him crawling as the deputies continued to shoot until Robertson lay limp in the street.
Family members of Robertson claim that he was unarmed, which has been determined to be false information. Residents were protesting outside of the scene as the Sheriffs department were investigating the scene that night. Some of the protesters were chanting “No justice, no peace!”
According to an article from the LA Times, a witness from the scene had first-hand evidence concluding that Robertson actually had a gun. The witness, Juan Roberto, was sweeping the floor in Chico’s Pizza parlor, which is right across the street from where the scene occurred, when he encountered a man holding a gun. “He was holding a silver semiautomatic handgun on his left hand,” Roberto said. Roberto also noted that the man seemed angry and was muttering things he could not understand. When the shooting occurred, Roberto saw the Robertson fall, but explained that Roberto still had the gun in his hands, while he was crawling and would not let it go.
A video screenshot of the deputies shooting Robertson.
The shooting will be thoroughly investigated. Lieutenant Eddie Hernandez with the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said, “The video is just one piece of evidence that’s going to be examined as a part of a comprehensive, protracted, long investigation, and that’ll be analyzed against the physical evidence, the witness statements and the deputies’ statements.”
Anyone with information about the incident was asked to contact the Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
Video: (Title reflects the poster’s opinion)
