Inland police kill two suspects in unrelated incidents that, when viewed with others, show a rise in officer-involved shootings
Brandon James Dunbar, 26, of Riverside, was fatally shot about 2:30 a.m. Thursday after running into a backyard near Anna Street and Lincoln Avenue.
Dunbar was shot when he turned toward the pursuing officer while holding a gun, Sgt. David Amador said in a written statement. Dunbar died soon afterward at a local hospital.
It was the city’s fourth officer-involved-shooting this year and its sixth in the past four months.
Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz said he believes more young men are arming themselves, perhaps in relation to increased tension among gangs in the city.
Police said they never know what they’ll find when they answer a call or make a traffic stop.
Ron Martinelli, a former police officer and consultant, said federal statistics show a 30 percent increase in officer deaths since last year. Many of the deaths were from shootings.
“We’re seeing suspects that are more violent than they’ve ever been before. It isn’t just that they’re armed,” Martinelli said. “We find more of a propensity for the suspects to engage the officers with weapons.”
In the San Bernardino case, 23-year-old paroled burglar Anthony Paul Gilmore Jr. was fatally shot at 7:46 p.m. Wednesday along 16th Street just east of North Arrowhead Avenue. Police said he was a Fontana resident. Coroner’s officials said he was from Rialto.
Two officers encountered Gilmore after they spotted a car with no rear license plate run a stop sign in a residential neighborhood, Sgt. Gary Robertson said in a written statement. The car was being driven by a woman whose name has not been released.
During the traffic stop, Gilmore tried to flee after being asked if he was carrying a weapon, investigators said. An officer grabbed him, a struggle ensued, and both officers and Gilmore fell to the ground, according to the statement.
“During the struggle, one of the officers saw a weapon lying on the ground right next to the suspect,” Robertson wrote. “The suspect … grabbed the weapon and put it under his body.
“The officer, fearing that the suspect was going to shoot him or his partner, fired … at the suspect several times.”
Gilmore was handcuffed and taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center where he died at 8:52 p.m.
The two officers suffered minor bumps and scrapes.
Earlier Wednesday, a Chino police officer drove himself to the hospital after a rifle-wielding bank bandit wearing a bullet-proof vest dropped part of his loot but shot and wounded the officer while running to a getaway car.
The officer is recuperating. That manhunt continues.
And in Rialto, police shot and wounded 22-year-old Huston Leron Parker on Feb. 8 when he pointed a replica handgun at them while they were investigating a report of someone shooting at a car along the 100 block of East Jackson Street, officials said.
“Based on my observations … at the scene, it appears that this suspect may have staged this confrontation,” Capt. Randy De Anda said soon after the incident.
OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTINGS
Two police shootings this week bring the total to six in the Inland area since Jan. 1. Here are some details police have released in those cases.
Jan. 7: Riverside police shot David Ledezma at his home after they say he threw a pipe at them and threatened them with another pipe; Ledezma later died
Feb. 8: Rialto police shot Huston Leron Parker when he aimed a replica handgun at them; Parker was wounded
Feb. 18: Riverside police shot Danny James Bond after he fled from officers and reached for a handgun; Bond died at the scene
Feb. 22: Riverside police shot Rudy Ray Casioce after he fled from a traffic stop; Casioce, who was armed, was unhurt
Feb. 29: San Bernardino police shot Anthony Paul Gilmore Jr. after he fled from a traffic stop and then grabbed a gun during a struggle with police; Gilmore later died
March 1: Riverside police shot Brandon James Dunbar after he fled from a traffic stop and then pulled a gun on an officer; Dunbar later died
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