He tried to land on another roof, but bounced off and went hurling to the ground — before officers, allegedly believing he had a gun, fired at him.
The Los Angeles Police Department released bodycam footage showing the moment one of four home invasion suspects jumped off a roof in an apparent escape attempt.
The incident went down back in September, with cops responding to the scene of an active burglary. According to police, four male suspects had entered an apartment, bound and gagged a victim and stole his car keys — before “roaming” the property.
In a 911 call from the building manager, she says the four were “going to people’s units and they’re trying to break into a unit right now.” While she believed they were teenagers, the four suspects were identified by police as Aaron Flenoy, Justice Lockhart, Jeffrey Askew, Daiyaan Henderson, all in their 20s.
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While Lockhart and Flenoy were taken into custody without incident, Askew was observed by the LAPD’s air unit on the roof of the apartment building. In age-restricted bodycam footage from the scene — linked here — officers were seen looking up toward the roof before Askew jumped off.
Though it appeared he was trying to land on another roof below him, he instead bounced off of it and landed on the pavement between the two buildings.
Officers are then seen approaching Askew, they shout for him to show his hands and to not reach for his waistband. “Don’t do it, don’t move, do not move!” they shout.
“As officers approached Askew to take him into custody and render aid, he reached into his front waistband and removed what officers believed to be a firearm,” said police in a statement. “Askew then appeared to point the object in the officers’ direction, resulting in an Officer-Involved Shooting (OIS) and a simultaneous deployment of a 40mm Less-Lethal Launcher foam projectile round.”
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As officers then approached Askew, the object in his hand was determined to be a hammer. He was taken to the hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition in the days after the incident. His current condition is unknown at this time.
The fourth suspect, Henderson, allegedly “attempted to escape the perimeter by changing clothes and exiting the front of the apartment complex,” but he was spotted by officers and taken into custody without incident.
All four men were charged with home invasion robbery, residential burglary and felony offense against a person over 65 years of age. Both Flenoy and Henderson, meanwhile, were also charged with personal use of a firearm during a felony.
The LAPD said they will “continue to investigate and analyze this incident” to “determine the thoroughness and accuracy of the investigation and whether the use of deadly force complied with LAPD’s policies and procedures.”
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