New video from a witness to the violent police killing of a man in a Fontana parking lot on Tuesday shows the events that proceeded immediately before an officer fired off several shots.
The man, later identified as 44-year-old Fontana resident Jesus Garcia, was armed with a metal pole and entered an AutoZone store in the area of Cherry Avenue and Baseline Road around 2:20 p.m., where he smashed computers and registers, according to police.
A press release from the Fontana Police Department issued after the incident said the officer used lethal force after “the suspect attacked the officer with the pipe,” but previous videos only showed what happened following the shots were fired, which included three punches to Garcia’s head.
New video posted to X, formerly Twitter, by GrindFace TV showed the 48 seconds before an officer shot the man.
The 5 minute, 8 second-long graphic and expletive-laced video, which can be viewed here, starts with Garcia wandering around the parking lot, metal pipe in hand, while a Fontana Police squad car drove in front of him. During the early moments, the man recording the video says that Garcia “swung at the police” before the video started.
“I’m surprised the police didn’t put him down,” the man said as a squad car parked several feet in front of Garcia.
At that point, Garcia became visibly agitated and jogged toward the police vehicle, still armed with the pipe. The officer then armed himself with his handgun as he exited the driver’s seat.
The officer shouted orders at Garcia, which were unintelligible in the video, and Garcia raised the pipe in the direction of the officer. Rather than striking the officer, however, Garcia smashed the windshield of the police squad car.
Then, Garcia turned his attention to the officer and raised the pipe over his head, as if he was about to swing. The officer again yelled at Garcia, but Garcia quickly threw the metal pipe in his direction.
The pipe appeared to clip the officer in the shin of his left leg.
Once hit by the pipe, the officer, who remains unnamed as of Thursday, fired about five shots at Garcia. Garcia hit the ground immediately and could be heard groaning in pain.
As Garcia was on the ground, the officer could be seen favoring that left shin, clearly in pain.
“He killed him, I watched him kill him,” the unidentified man behind the camera said repeatedly. “He attacked the cop.”
Garcia writhed in pain for about 40 seconds before a second police vehicle pulled up to the scene. Another unnamed officer exited that squad car and aggressively shouted at Garcia to get on his stomach, less than one minute after being shot.
As he rolled around in pain, the officer who arrived at the scene following the shooting continued to yell at Garcia. Eventually, the officer walked up to Garcia, stood over him and delivered three vicious blows to his head.
That same officer then flipped Garcia over to his stomach and placed him in handcuffs.
“He’s dead now,” the man behind the camera said as the officers handcuffed Garcia. “He’s gonna be gone in a minute.”
Garcia appeared to lose consciousness after the three punches. For the final three minutes of the video, he doesn’t move under his own volition. The remainder of the video shows officers attempting to render medical aid.
Garcia was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The initial officer, who was struck by the thrown metal pipe, was also treated for unspecified injuries.
As of Thursday morning there’s no word on whether either the shooting officer or the officer that punched the mortally wounded Garcia will face punishment as a result of the deadly incident.