Citrus Heights police release video of officer fatally shooting man holding revolver
The Citrus Heights Police Department has released a brief video showing one of its officers fatally shoot an armed man last month outside a fast food restaurant.
An officer who responded to the area of Antelope Road and Tupelo Drive on Jan. 13 to a report of a possibly intoxicated man brandishing a firearm shot the man after he allegedly pointed the firearm at officers upon their arrival, the police department said in a news release last month.
The man, identified by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office as 30-year-old Alexander Bogusz of Citrus Heights, was taken to a hospital where he died a short time later, authorities said.
The police department on Thursday released a condensed video account of the incident, including a brief video clip from the involved officer’s body-worn camera as well as cellphone video from a witness.
The videos show that the man, wearing a dark-colored blazer, tan-colored pants and baseball cap, was near the sidewalk along the front of a fast food restaurant when a police vehicle arrived shortly before 9 p.m.
The officer in the driver’s seat opened his door and immediately instructed the suspect to “drop it,” body camera footage shows.
“If you reach for it, you’re gonna get shot,” the officer said.
The man in the video can initially be seen with both hands up, one of them held to his ear. Immediately following the officer’s warning, the man began to reach toward an item on the ground, video shows.
The item was obscured from view of the officer’s body camera by a concrete barrier, but the witness video from inside the fast food restaurant showed the man holding a gun and beginning to point it toward the patrol vehicle. This angle also shows a second officer taking cover near the rear of the vehicle.
“Do not reach for it, you will get shot. Do not reach for it,” the officer shouted as the man began to reach toward the ground. “Drop it, drop it.”
The officer then fired at least three times at the suspect, video shows. The police vehicle’s door blocks the body camera’s view of the man as the shots are fired; and the edited cellphone video cuts to black while three gunshots can be heard.
The entire exchange lasted about 20 seconds, video shows.
The Citrus Heights Police Department said the suspect’s firearm, a .38 caliber revolver, was recovered at the scene. It was not loaded. Police said the suspect was found to be in possession of ammunition.
According to the narrated video news release, witnesses “described the male actively pointing a gun at occupied vehicles in the populated business complex.”
Police in last month’s news release and Tuesday’s video release did not identify Bogusz by name. His identity was released by the coroner.
In 911 audio, a caller told dispatchers that “there is a man out front laying on the floor, and he has a gun on the floor.”
The caller tells the dispatcher multiple times that she thinks the man is either overdosing or very drunk.
“He can’t even get off of the floor,” the 911 caller continues. “He has the gun pointing at a car now ... There’s a cop in front of him right now.”
The police department said the incident is still being investigated internally and by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 2:20 PM.
