Vid.of Offcr-involved Shot of Man Hoisting an Airsoft Rifle in Grass Valley, CA

[RiversEdge]

On Thursday, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office and Grass Valley Police Department released an edited “critical incident video” of the fatal shooting of Gabriel Strickland on Jan. 1, 2020.

The video contains audio of the initial 911 call as well as footage from both body-worn cameras and dash-cam footage from a responding deputy’s vehicle.



Officials have said that Nevada County Sheriff’s deputies Brandon Tripp and Taylor King, and Grass Valley Police Officer Brian Hooper, have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Tripp and King returned to duty on Wednesday. Hooper remained on leave Thursday.

The video is 9 minutes long and represents a small portion of the hours of raw video footage.

The video contains footage of the same event from different officers at different angles.



Deputy Tripp’s footage
Minute 1:22: Audio of the 911 call in which a man reports a man walking on Squirrel Creek Road with a gun. Surveillance video from a business shows Gabriel Strickland with what appears to be a shotgun on his shoulder.

That later was found to be an Airsoft rifle.

2:32: A responding deputy can be heard on audio telling the dispatcher he is at Walker Drive and Oak Street.

“He’s not dropping it,” the deputy says. “He’s saying it’s a BB gun, we can’t tell.”

2:49: Deputy Brandon Tripp’s in-car camera footage begins as he drives down Walker Drive, Strickland is on the right side of the road walking away from the vehicle.

Strickland is holding the gun with its butt at hip height, pointing to the right.



3:30: Strickland stops and is looking at Deputy Taylor King, who is somewhat obscured to the right on Oak Street.
Tripp can be heard yelling multiple times to “Drop the gun! Drop the f-ing gun!”

3:54: Strickland gestures, then touches the tip of the gun, saying something inaudible.

3:57: Tripp responds, “Drop it then! Put it down.”
4:18: Strickland yells something inaudible, to which Tripp responds, “Hey buddy, drop the gun please. Drop the gun please. We don’t want to shoot you.”

4:35: Strickland yells, “You guys don’t give a f— — and I don’t either.”
4:37: Tripp responds, “We do. We just want to talk to you.

Hey — you have a gun in your hand. We want to talk to you.”
4:46: Strickland hits the barrel, saying, “It’s a BB gun.”

Tripp responds, “Drop it! Drop the gun!”
4:52: Strickland says, “You guys don’t give a f—.”
Tripp responds with more commands to drop the gun, then says, “We don’t know that’s a fake gun.

We don’t know that’s a fake gun, buddy.” Strickland says, “It is, man.”
“We don’t know that, you could have painted that,” Tripp says.

“Please drop the gun. We don’t want to kill you.”
5:25: Strickland says, “You don’t understand, that I really don’t give a f—.”

5:30: Tripp says, “Yes, we — I care. Listen. I care.”
Strickland yells, “I’m not doing nothing wrong.” He then yells, “What am I doing wrong?”



5:43: Tripp repeats the command to drop the gun, then can be heard directing Grass Valley officers to get out of the cross fire.

6:06: Grass Valley Police Officer Brian Hooper can be seen approaching on the right with a Taser, as Tripp says, “I’m on you if you want to move up, somebody less lethal.”

6:40: Strickland appears to lift the gun and point it as Tripp continues to yell at him to drop the gun.
6:41: Gunshots are heard as one officer appears to be trying to knock gun away.

Officers rush in to disarm and detain Strickland.

Officer Ball’s footage
7:16: Officer Conrad Ball’s body-worn camera footage begins, as he approaches Strickland. Strickland can be seen on his knees as officers shout commands to drop the gun.

7:36: As Strickland moves the gun into a firing position, Officer Brian Hooper fires a Taser, with no effect. Strickland levels and points the gun at Hooper.

7:40: Strickland points the gun at Ball and a pop is heard, followed by multiple gunshots. Officers charge Strickland as he drops the gun, yelling not to move. Strickland can be heard saying, “I’m not moving.”



Officer Grube’s footage
8:16: Footage from Officer Dennis Grube’s body-work camera begins as he runs past Deputy Tripp into a side yard.

8:30: Grube repeatedly yells “Gabe, put it down. Gabe, Gabe, don’t do it.”

8:55: Tripp, Ball and Hooper can be seen approaching Strickland, shouting to drop the gun before two pops are heard — possibly the Taser — and then gunshots.

Officers then rush Strickland, who is in a sitting position with the gun knocked away and to the side.

[mparryuk52]

Reporting someone with a gun in America should be the same as someone walking with an ice cream in the UK and then being reported to the police - because in the USA they actually have an ammendment to their Constitution which legally gives them the right to bare arms

[RoadRash]

A tragedy for everyone !! This young man has lost his life. The brave officers now have to live with this for life. It WILL affect them. He was given the order to drop the gun countless times. No way to be sure if it was real. Non-lethal force was used first. When all else failed, and the subject aimed at multiple officers, they had no choice. Sad for all parties involved.

[fapfapfap]

Damn they let him get away with pointing that thing at them for a long time.

[nojia]

Dumb bastard got what he wanted.

[Splay]

Originally Posted by mparryuk52

the right to bare arms

Not only that—tattooed bare arms.

[Martano666]

Good to see the police tried to avoid shooting him until given absolutely no other option. If he was black, he would have been shot in the back of the head before they even knew he had a hockey stick in his hand.

[iceman247]

i just dont understand why dont they just just him in the leg? and yes he should have just dropped it but killing him was not necessary.

[SkinnyFella]

Originally Posted by iceman247

i just dont understand why dont they just just him in the leg? and yes he should have just dropped it but killing him was not necessary.

It's super weird, but in the US, if a cop tries to aim for nonlethal parts or beats someone into submission, they can often turn around and sue for use of excessive force, arguing that if lethal force wasn't necessary, then there's no reason to use force in the first place. Administratively, it's better to just aim for center of mass and hope they die. You can thank the ambulance-chasers for that.

[Steve]

He virtually asked them to shoot him, so they did.