A California sheriff’s deputy shot a suspected shoplifter in the head as he appeared to reach for a gun during a violent struggle, video shows.
The footage, released Tuesday by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, shows suspect Ernesto Aguilar, 30, being escorted out of Walmart in Lake Forest on Jan. 19 after an employee called cops to report a possible theft.
As Aguilar and a woman with him were asked to leave the store, one of the responding deputies spotted that he had a knife, the footage shows.
“Don’t reach for it,” another deputy said. “Get your f–king hand off the knife.”
“Sorry, sorry, sorry, sir,” Aguilar responded.
Deputies then tried to get Aguilar into handcuffs when he restarted resisting, setting off an intense struggle that ended with him on the floor with a bullet in his head after he appeared to reach for a gun on his hip, the clip shows.
“He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun,” one deputy yelled out. “Shoot him, shoot him!”
The footage showed a third deputy then fire a single shot into Aguilar’s head as a civilian at the Walmart looked on.
“Shoot him, shoot him,” the man said.
The footage released Tuesday appeared to show Aguilar with his hand on a gun during the ensuing scuffle to get him into handcuffs.
Aguilar, who pleaded for help as he said he was “dying,” miraculously survived, the Los Angeles Times reported. He was later charged with assault on a police officer and possession of a gun missing a serial number, sheriff officials said.
Aguilar, of Santa Ana, who had surgery at a hospital following the shooting, was recovering in jail Tuesday, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office told the Los Angeles Times. He remained in custody in lieu of bail set at nearly $2.3 million, county records show.
Orange County prosecutors, meanwhile, are investigating the shooting to determine if the involved deputies acted within the law and department policy, Undersheriff Jeff Hallock said.
“A deputy-involved shooting demands the highest level of scrutiny and rightfully is a matter of public concern,” Hallock said of the ongoing probe.
Surgery ? Should have shot the Son-of-Bitch 3 or 4 times more, just to make sure !
The illegally armed criminal is most likely one of Obiden’s Open Border Illegal Alien Invaders saturating OUR country with their diseases, gangs, terrorists, cartels, drugs and unskilled, uneducated, destitute rabbit-breeders! Anyone want to bet if the armed thug is required to cover his own medical expenses or do legal American citizens have to pay as per usual thanks to the liberal, gender-confused Leftists? (Question: Doesn’t everyone carry a huge knife and illegal firearm with serial number removed so they can shop and steal from Walmart? Oh, just the Illegal Invaders are permitted and expected to do that you say due to their “Illegal Alien Privilege”!) Great Job deputies; keep up the good work, but be sure to practice at the gun range to perfect your “neutralize/eliminate” shots for these purposes! The legal, law-abiding Citizens of this country salute and support you guys in law enforcement!
Gun Control in the form of enforcement of laws on the books. Then will talk gun safety.
Dolt, you have a lot of nerve calling yourself a liberal. And such racist comments as yours should not be allowed. You’re not merely a dolt but a s…bag as well. Just because he has an Hispanic name doesn’t mean he’s an illegal alien invader. I agree he is a thug but you’re not much better accusing someone of being something you have absolutely no evidence of except that his name is Hispanic, s…bag.
It’s liberal Commiefornia who cares? Let them rob, steal, maim, murder, rape and kill….they will all be out in record time back on the streets to rinse and repeat the next day. They are getting exactly what they voted for. I for one think it’s funny how they are running the Liberal States into the ground and pissing on them for good measure. Could not happen to a better Liberal State. They now get to reap the benefits of their Votes. They made their beds now they can lie in them.