The news that we always dread in the airsoft community, a person getting shot by law enforcement for carrying an airsoft gun in public, has happened again. Responding officers from the San Pablo Police Department in California, shot and killed a man carrying an airsoft gun.

Various news outlets reported that the incident happened at in the area of Market Avenue and Truman Street on Wednesday, the 15th of December, before 2:30pm. Employees of the Evergreen Produce Market told the police that man, who is said to be 45 years old, appeared to be drunk was waving a gun in a menacing fashion in the parking lot. They feared that the man was planning to come inside so they called the police.

According to Mercury News, San Pablo police Capt. Brian Bubar said, “He was actually removing the magazine of the gun and putting it back in, and the clerk was in fear that the subject was going to come inside and be a danger.”

The police arrived at the scene only to find driving off and driving erratically in a red Toyota pickup truck. He was eventually stopped and approaching offers noticed blood coming out from one of his hands. Captain Bubar mentioned that he eventually came out of the car with a handgun, "He was holding it in his hand and manipulating it and mimicked as if he was pulling the slide back on the firearm while facing the officers."

He was ordered to drop the gun and raise his hands up. After failing to comply after repeated orders, the officers fired several rounds at the man. They tried providing first aid but the man died from his wounds.  The gun was found to be altered airsoft gun with its orange tip removed which is a federal requirement to identify that airsoft guns are not real.

The four officers who were at the scene were placed on administrative leave while an investigation on the shooting is being conducted.

Top photo: San Pablo Police (Source: San Pablo PD Facebook page)