Alfred Olango, the man who was fatally shot by an El Cajon police officer on Sept. 27 was in a “shooting stance” at the time of the shooting, said authorities.
A woman claiming to be Olango’s sister—who said he was mentally ill—contacted police for assistance after 38-year-old Olango was “not acting like himself.” It was reported that Olango was walking in and out of oncoming traffic.
Responding officers arrived at the scene where they allegedly encountered a defiant Olango who refused to remove his hands from his pockets. He then removed an object from his pocket and pointed it at officers while in a “shooting stance,” said police. Police did not say what the object was.
“At one point, the male rapidly drew an object from his front pants pocket, placed both hands together on it, and extended it rapidly towards the officer, taking what appeared to be a shooting stance, putting the object in the officer’s face,” El Cajon Police Chief Jeff Davis said during a press conference on Tuesday, reported NBC San Diego.
It is then the two officers simultaneously fired their weapons—one officer deployed his taser; another officer fired his gun. It is unknown if Olango was hit with any voltage or how many shots were fired.
Olango, who was unarmed, was rushed to a local hospital where he died.
Following the shooting, a witness provided cellphone footage of the incident, which appeared to corroborate with the officers’ account of what transpired, said police. Authorities will not release the video as the investigation is ongoing.
“This was the only cell phone video provided to the officers and no cell phones were taken from anybody,” Davis said. El Cajon police officers do not wear body cameras.
Davis asked for anyone with information to step forward, including the woman who made the initial 911 call. Davis said he has yet to confirm if the two are related because the woman has been uncooperative with the investigation.
Olango’s death prompted community members to gather at the scene and Police Headquarters, where they demanded answers about the incident, questioning the motives of the police.
In August 2015, the county of San Diego invested $1.6 million towards its Psychiatric Emergency Response Teams (PERT), which pairs a licensed mental health clinician with a responding police officer or sheriff’s deputy to scenes of mental illness calls.
Davis assured a thorough investigation into the deadly shooting.
“This will be transparent,” he said. “This will be looked at by multiple sets of eyes, and not just ours.” The district attorney will also investigate.
The officers have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard practice in police-involved shootings.
