The LAPD has released body camera footage of the fatal July 29 shooting of a man who approached officers with a raised baseball bat in South Los Angeles. The man, identified as 33-year-old Alejandro Garcia, was struck by a single bullet.
What led to the encounter
Officers responded just before 6:30 p.m. to a call near Normandie Avenue and Washington Boulevard reporting a man smashing the windows of parked cars with a bat. Callers also described him swinging at passing vehicles and chasing bystanders. Officers located him beneath the Interstate 10 overpass.
What the footage shows
According to the department, Garcia did not comply with verbal commands, continued advancing toward officers, and raised the bat with both hands into a swinging position before an officer fired. He was struck once.
Why the release timing matters
California law requires law enforcement agencies to release video of critical incidents, including shootings by officers, within 45 days unless disclosure would substantially interfere with an active investigation. That statutory deadline is why footage in California surfaces on a fairly predictable schedule rather than at a department’s discretion, and it is the reason this video became public roughly a month after the incident. The release is a legal obligation, not a finding about whether the shooting was justified.
What happens next
Shootings by LAPD officers go through a layered review: an internal Force Investigation Division inquiry, review by the chief of police, and a determination by the civilian Board of Police Commissioners on whether the use of force fell within department policy. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office separately assesses whether criminal charges are warranted. Those processes typically take months, and none had concluded at the time the footage was released.
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