Harvard Heights shooting: Video shows confrontation between LAPD and alleged armed man

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Police Department released bodycam footage of an officer-involved shooting in Harvard Heights that happened in early June. 

What we know:

The incident occurred on June 5 after officers responded to a radio call at approximately 9:17 a.m. that morning. The call reported a man with a gun located at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Western Avenue, according to Los Angeles police officer Tony Im.

The 911 call describes a man pointing what looked like a ‘mini shotgun’ at vehicles. 

After arriving on scene, officers located the suspect who was holding an object that was believed to be a sawed-off shotgun and simulating firing at the air unit. 

Officers immediately requested backup while giving the suspect verbal commands to drop the weapon. He did not comply and walked across 18th Street. He then placed the object into his waistband and put on a jacket. 

The officers on scene then discharged four 40-millimeter-less-lethal rounds at him. He then retrieved the object from his waistband and pointed it at the officers, simulating firing. 

"He don’t have a gun!" 

"It ain’t a gun!" Spectators were heard shouting after an officer fired a round at the suspect. 

Security footage showed the suspect being hit in the upper left arm. Bodycam footage then showed officers applying a tourniquet until paramedics arrived on scene. They transported him to a local hospital where he was admitted for further treatment. 

Investigators later recovered a black metal pipe with a handle that resembled a sawed-off shotgun. 

Photo credit LAPD 

An LAPD post on X described the shooting location as 18th Street and St. Andrews Place, a block from where the initial 911 call was reported.  

The suspect was later identified as 37-year-old Roberto Gonzalez.

On June 9, Gonzalez was booked for two counts of brandishing an imitation firearm and one count of resisting a peace officer.