Palm Springs Police Release Video Of Fatal Shooting

PALM SPRINGS, CA — Palm Springs police released video Wednesday of a police shooting that killed a Desert Hot Springs man armed with a knife in May.

Officers responded to a report of a man brandishing a knife at about 3:40 p.m. May 28 in the 1200 block of East Palm Canyon Drive, according to the Palm Springs Police Department.

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In a video posted by the department Wednesday on YouTube, body-worn camera footage and drone footage revealed officers, including a crisis negotiator and a clinical behavioral therapist, attempted in both English and Spanish to persuade Gilberto Flores to drop the knife for more than 40 minutes.

Police said Flores abruptly walked down from a second-story balcony and was headed directly toward officers while continuing to hold the knife. Officers repositioned to create some distance between them and Flores before he made his way inside the passenger side of a patrol vehicle.

Officers subsequently deployed two tasers and a less lethal 40mm sponge round, but those were "ineffective" and Flores charged nearby officers, the department stated.

Three officers, who were not identified, fired their handguns. Paramedics and crews from the Palm Springs Fire Department were staged at the scene and took Flores to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to Capt. Gustavo Araiza, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department's Force Investigation Division will conduct an investigation into the shooting. The Riverside County District Attorney's Office will review the findings to determine "whether the actions of the involved officers were consistent with applicable law," Araiza said.

Additionally, the department will conduct a separate, administrative review to find whether the officers acted in accordance with department policy and training.