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A San Leandro police officer shot and killed a man who was reported to be swinging a baseball bat Saturday afternoon at a Walmart store.
Part of the encounter was caught on video by at least one shopper. The 58-second video shows a black male brandishing a bat as two San Leandro officers approach him, with guns drawn, not far from the entrance to the store.
“Get back!” “Get back!” they yell several times, as a person in the background can be heard shouting “Put it down! Put it down!”
At least one officer fires his Taser weapon at the man, who staggers back and then continues advancing. When the man is about five feet from the lead officer, the video shows, the officer fires his gun, striking the man in the chest.
The man staggers back, drops the bat, and bleeding on the floor, collapses as horrified shoppers look on. One yells “Don’t shoot him no more.” Another yells “Call an ambulance!”
A San Leandro police spokesman said late Saturday that police did not have the dead man’s name or city of residence.
“We are in the early stages of our investigation,” said Lt. Ted Henderson. The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office coroner’s division identified the man Sunday afternoon as Steven Taylor, 33.
Henderson said police entered the store at about 3:12 p.m., responding to a call about the man. While en route, they were given an update that a robbery was occurring. When they arrived, Henderson said, they determined there was no robbery, but the man was brandishing a bat menacingly as they tried to detain him.
“The officers were in danger,” Henderson said.
The officer who fired the shot, whom Henderson did not identify, is a 20-year veteran of the department and will be placed on paid administrative leave, as is the department’s policy following officer-involved shootings, he said.
Police from the California Highway Patrol and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department also responded to the store to help with crowd control, cordoning it off.
One man who said he was at the store posted an account on his Instagram page with a photo of the suspect inside the store after he was shot. He later removed the post.
“I was literally feet away from it,” wrote the man, Mike_Myke, an Oakland-area resident who has a YouTube channel with 179,000 subscribers that features video and commentary about sports cars. “This dude was saying he wanted to die before the police even arrived. He waited for the police to get here while he was swinging a bat. He was threatening to kill the door greeter. People offered to help him and he refused. He was saying everybody was living his life and he didn’t care anymore. When the police arrived, dude instantly attacked him and wasn’t cooperating. Officer pulled out his taser and asked him to step back. Dude attacked the officer with the bat and that’s when he shot him with the taser. Dude still attempted to hit the officer after he was already being tased. The officer pulled out his gun and told the guy to get back. The officer started walking backwards with his weapon drawn and the suspect continued to walk forward with the bat. When he went to swing, that’s when the officer shot him. He was shot 1 time and that’s when he went down. Wasn’t much the officer could do In this situation.”
“I’m not justifying his death, but this wasn’t a black on white hate crime that they gon make it out to be,” said the writer, who is African-American. “My condolences to his family, but this was wild. Like I said, I was right behind the officer. I even tried talking to this dude before the officers arrived. This is a lose-lose situation. My cousin was shot in his sleep by (Oakland Police Department), so I know the feeling and the hate toward the police. This ain’t the same situation.”
In a video tweeted Sunday night, San Leandro police Chief Jeff Tudor sought to push back against what he described as rumors about the shooting.
“I was born and raised in San Leandro, and I know that this is a difficult time and our community is hurting right now. Protecting the sanctity of life is extremely important, and I know that there’s a lot of questions and concerns about yesterday’s officer-involved shooting,” Tudor said in part, asking for residents’ and observers’ patience.
“I would like to dispel some rumors that are circulating on social media. Our officer discharged his weapon one time, striking the subject in the front of his upper body. It is still early on in this investigation, and we will provide you more information in the near future, and as it becomes available so we can be as transparent as possible.”
This is a community message from Chief Jeff Tudor regarding yesterday's officer-involved shooting. pic.twitter.com/yqyBmvHzsp
— San Leandro PD (@SanLeandroPD) April 20, 2020
