Culver City PD Releases Video Of Fatal Shooting By Officers

CULVER CITY, CA — Culver City police Tuesday released a "critical incident community briefing" video of the Aug. 3 fatal shooting of a man armed with a knife who charged at officers — one of whom was wounded by "friendly fire" — on the roof of a parking structure.

The 12-minute, edited video includes 911 calls and shows some of the events that culminated in the fatal shooting of Jesse Van Loozen, 34, and the wounding of the officer, according to the Culver City Police Department.

The wounded officer, whose name was not released, is recovering at home, police said.

Officers were dispatched to the 8800 block of Washington Boulevard about 2:25 p.m. that day on a report of a man armed with a knife who was in the stairwell of a commercial parking structure.

Officers located the man and he "attempted to elude them within (the) stairwell," according to a report that was released shortly after the shooting by Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which was called in to assist in the investigation.

"A short standoff ensued and as the officers attempted to communicate with the suspect, he suddenly charged at the officers while armed with a knife," Navarro-Suarez said.

Van Loozen died at a hospital.

Investigations are ongoing, including probes by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, the sheriff's department, the coroner's office and the Culver City Police Department's professional standards unit.

Police officials described why they decided to release the video, describing efforts to be transparent.

"As a part of this video briefing, you will be shown surveillance footage, as well as video footage from the responding officers' body-worn cameras," Culver City Chief of Police Manuel Cid said in the video. "You will also hear the 911 call and radio traffic from our dispatch center. We hope this provides you of a better understanding of what occurred during this incident based on how we know it at this time."

Warning: Graphic video below.

- City News Service and Patch Editor Nicole Charky contributed to this report.