Palm Springs police release body cam footage from May officer-involved shooting

Palm Springs police released a critical incident video Wednesday showing the moments leading up to a fatal officer-involved shooting that happened on May 28th.

Officers were called to the 1200 block of East Palm Canyon Drive around 3:41 p.m. that day after someone reported a man waving a knife and acting erratically toward employees at an area motel. Police identified the man as Gilberto Flores of Desert Hot Springs, though his age wasn't released.

The newly released video shows Flores on the second story of the building with the knife, along with audio from the initial 911 call. The Palm Springs Police Department then showed footage of officers trying to talk Flores down and using less-lethal options, including help from the department's Community Behavioral Assessment Team, a unit meant to handle mental health crises. Flores is eventually seen on body cam and drone footage approaching officers with the knife, and at one point entering a police vehicle. The video then shows police used tasers and sponge rounds on the suspect, but eventually three officers open fire. According to the initial report from police, first responders tried to save Flores at the scene, but he died from his injuries at an area hospital. No officers were hurt.

According to Captain Gustavo M. Araiza of the Palm Springs Police Department, the case now moves through three separate reviews. The Riverside County Sheriff's Force Investigation Division is investigating the shooting itself, and that investigation will then go to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. Palm Springs police will also run their own internal administrative review.

The department said all legally required documents on the shooting will be posted to its transparency page as the reviews move forward.