The LAPD released video footage leading up to the fatal shooting of Carnell Snell Jr. Tuesday (Oct. 4), amid ongoing protests over the teen’s death. In the video, posted to the LAPD YouTube account, a Black male identified as the Snell, appears to have a gun in his sweatpants.
The recording shows Snell hiding behind a black SUV, and after a short pause, he tucks the gun back in his pants and runs away. The shooting was not caught on surveillance released by the police department.
Authorities claimed from the beginning that Snell was armed with a weapon, that had been recovered near his body. LAPD Police Chief Charlie Beck said officers “feared for their lives,” while defending the fatal shootings of Snell on Saturday (Oct. 1) and a Hispanic man a day later, in a separate incident.
Regarding Snell, Beck confirmed that officers suspected that he was riding in a stolen Nissan Altima due to its paper license plates. Snell ducked in the back seat “as if to hide” from officers, Beck said.
He then jumped out of the car and ran way, holding his waistband. The driver and another passenger also got away.
Police subsequently opened fire on the 18 year old, after a foot pursuit that ended “between two houses on an adjoining street” in South Los Angeles.
Following the shooting, witnesses said that Snell was hit five times in the back with his hands up. Beck later told the press that police fired a total of six rounds, striking Snell in the leg and torso.
“Mr. Snell came to a shut metal gate that had mesh so it was somewhat transparent,” Beck explained to the media Tuesday. “As he got to that gate he turned, as he turned he had the gun out of his waistband in his left hand. The officers felt that this was an imminent threat, one officer fired three rounds at this point. Mr. Snell then climbed over the fence and made a similar motion back towards the officers with the gun in his hand, and a second three rounds [were] fired, at which time Mr. Snell collapsed.”
The video release failed to calm tensions during a Los Angeles Police Commission meeting that came to an abrupt end Tuesday, after community members calling for Beck to be fired. One woman, whose son had been killed by police, was accused of threatening to kill officers, though she was not arrested.
See the LAPD-obtained footage of Snell below.