FREMONT, Calif. - Fremont police on Friday released video of the fatal officer shooting of a carjacking suspect armed with an airsoft pistol.
Police issued officer body-worn camera footage from three different officers. The shooting of Elmer Lopez-Casteneda, 19, of Newark, happened April 13, near the Chase Suites Hotel on Cedar Boulevard in Newark.
Police said Lopez-Castenada was involved in a knife-point carjacking on the 5700 block of Thornton Avenue in Newark on Feb. 14. Police also issued security camera footage of the carjacking as part of their presentation.
The carjacked vehicle was entered into a stolen vehicle database and tracked in the area by a license plate reader. Police said both Newark and Fremont police were alerted. Lopez-Castenada and a passenger were in the vehicle. Officers conducted a traffic stop. They said the suspect and passenger initially complied with their orders.
The three different angles show at least one of the officers was armed with a less-than-lethal projectile weapon.
Police can be seen shouting their orders for the two persons in the vehicle to come out with their hands up. Police said one of the officers saw what appeared to be a gun in Lopez-Castenada's waistband.
"Investigators discovered it was a full metal airsoft pistol designed to look like a Beretta M9," Fremont police said. Lopez-Castenada was ordered to the ground when the weapon was discovered. The slowed-down edited version and at least one of the body-worn camera angles show the suspect moving his hand down toward his waistband. Officers quickly open fire on Lopez-Castenada after they said he reached for the airsoft pistol.
One police detective from Newark and three Fremont police detectives fired their weapons on the suspect, police said.
Officers rendered aid to the suspect until medics arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The passenger, who was detained, was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police said he was not struck by gunfire.
Fremont police said the California Department of Justice has collected and processed evidence from this case and has conducted forensic testing and interviews. By state law the State DOJ is responsible for investigating officer-involved shootings where the person shot is not found to be armed with a deadly weapon.
Police ID carjacking suspect who was armed with airsoft replica and fatally shot by officers
Newark police on Friday identified the carjacking suspect who was fatally shot by officers from their department as well as Fremont police officers earlier this month.