Oakland Police Release Body Camera Footage Showing Fatal Fruitvale Shooting

Oakland Police released body camera footage from a fatal July 13 shooting of a man in the Fruitvale neighborhood on Wednesday, a month after advocates demanded the department make the video public.

The release comes a month after OPD’s initial account of the shooting, which said only that officers “located an armed individual” who “lunged at officers with a weapon.” The department did not describe the weapon publicly at the time, which activists criticized, calling for transparency around the use of force.

Police identified the man as José Ángel Castillo, 43. The department said that it is waiting on the Alameda County Coroner’s office to formally verify his identity.

The footage shows what the department calls “homemade weapons”: two long poles with blades affixed to the ends, one in each of Castillo’s hands. The footage shows officers with their guns drawn following Castillo down an East Oakland street for roughly a minute, firing Tasers at him as he stood in a parking lot, then shooting him seconds later as he swung one of two bladed poles he was carrying.

The videos do not capture every angle of the encounter, and CHP has not released footage from its officers, but OPD’s release offers more insight into the moments leading up to Castillo’s death. The videos can be publicly viewed here, with a warning that they contain graphic content. 

The footage shows California Highway Patrol officers first encountering Castillo at a homeless encampment near 40th Avenue and International Boulevard after 2 p.m. He is holding a hammer and complies when officers tell him to drop it. Castillo then raises the two bladed poles toward the officers, one of whom points a gun at him. He then walks away from the encampment toward the street.

When Oakland officers arrive at East 12th Street and 41st Avenue, Castillo is still carrying both poles. Officers get out of their cars and order him to drop the weapons. He keeps walking. One officer can be heard telling him, “Just stop and talk to us.” 

Castillo yells back, but most of what he says is difficult to make out.

As Castillo walks up 41st Avenue toward International Boulevard, footage from a second officer’s camera and a nearby security camera shows two adults and a child walking past Castillo on the sidewalk. An officer waves them along. Roughly 20 seconds later, as Castillo continues walking toward International Boulevard on 41st Avenue, one of the officers says, “We are going to use force. Just stop.” 

Castillo walks into a parking lot on 41st Avenue, connected to businesses on International Boulevard. Around five officers follow him at a walking pace. Tasers are deployed — an officer can be heard saying, “Hit him again,” before a second Taser is heard. 

Castillo swings one pole. Immediately, multiple gunshots follow, and he falls forward. One more shot is heard. In the footage, no officer appears to be within arm’s reach of him when he swings.

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A wider angle from the parking lot shows nine officers in view. Text on one video states that two officers fired their weapons. After a resuscitation attempt, Castillo died on scene.

The officers who fired were placed on paid administrative leave. The department is conducting criminal and internal affairs investigations. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is also conducting an independent investigation, and the city’s civilian Community Police Review Agency has been notified. 

OPD told KQED the investigation remains ongoing and that no additional information is being provided at this time.

The shooting is the third by Oakland officers this year and the second that was fatal, following an April 27 shooting in the 1800 block of 89th Avenue that left one dead, and a May 8 shooting near Ninth Avenue that wounded a man police said dragged one officer and pinned another against a parked car. 

It also lands seven weeks before U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick is scheduled to decide whether to end more than two decades of federal oversight of the department. Federal monitor Robert Warshaw found in a May 22 report that OPD had met all 51 court-ordered reforms for the first time, and Orrick has said he will close the case at a Sept. 29 hearing as long as the department stays in compliance. 

Cat Brooks, co-founder and executive director of the Anti Police-Terror Project, questioned the role of CHP on the scene and said the man visible in the footage appeared to be in crisis.

“He needed help,” Brooks said. “He needed somebody that knows how to talk to people that are in elevated states of mental health crisis.”

Brooks said officers could have backed off instead of following Castillo and called a non-police crisis responder. She added that she did not believe the shooting was justified.

APTP said it is still trying to reach Castillo’s family, and OPD is asking the public for help locating his next of kin. Brooks said the organization is holding a protest at 5 p.m. Friday at Oscar Grant Plaza in Oakland.

“That was somebody’s son,” she said. “Probably somebody’s brother, father. Whether he lived outside or he lived inside, he was one of us.”