Family releases surveillance video that shows naked Rio Linda man shot, killed by deputy
By: The family of a Rio Linda man who was shot and killed by a Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputy has released video of the incident to challenge law enforcement's response.
The family says 38-year-old Christopher Gilmore suffered from mental illness and was suicidal. They said the video shows he was not a threat to responding deputies.
“They failed all the way around. They failed my brother, they failed the community. They just they need better training and better officers, officers with compassion at least,” said Bobbie Gilmore, Christopher's older sister.
The sheriff’s office says that Christopher Gilmore was advancing toward a deputy with a knife; however, the video is not clear enough to offer definitive evidence one way or the other.
The video depicts the incident from the morning of March 23, when sheriff’s deputies responded to a call for a man who was cutting himself in the bathroom and needed help.
Deputies take tactical positions on the driveway, calling Gilmore outside.
He emerges, naked and bloody, stumbling through a barrage of less-lethal rounds before a deputy opens fire with his service weapon. Gilmore was pronounced dead at the scene.
Now, Bobbie Gilmore says she regrets calling 911 in the first place.
“Just imagine how terrible it is to say that you regret calling for help?” said Gilmore family attorney Daniel Del Rio.
ABC10 showed the video to Ed Obayashi, a law enforcement policy advisor for over 100 agencies in California.
He said there’s not enough information to determine whether this was a justifiable use of deadly force, but he said it may have been better had armed deputies not responded at all.
“Law enforcement is not properly equipped to deal with mental health issues, such as the ones that are depicted in this incident,” Obayashi said.
Obayashi advises agencies around the state to adopt a policy of not responding to suicide calls.
“We’re there to help, but unfortunately, these situations result in these types of outcomes,” Obayashi said.
Bobbie Gilmore said her brother wasn't trying to hurt anybody and that ultimately, his mental health crisis was met with gunfire instead of the help he needed.