TRAGIC ENDING TO 911 CALL OF MAN WITH GUN

Rookie Bakersfield cop shot dead an unarmed grandfather with dementia - as it is revealed the 73-year-old was carrying a CRUCIFIX

By Jessica Chia

Daily Mail
December 14, 2016

A police officer fatally shot a grandfather with dementia even though the 73-year-old was unarmed and made no threatening movements, police said Tuesday.

Rookie cop and former-Marine Reagan Selman. 26, fired seven rounds at a confused Francisco Serna in Bakersfield, California, at around 12.30am Monday.

Police responded to reports that a man was brandishing a firearm in the neighborhood, and a witness pointed to Serna, who had both hands 'concealed inside his jacket', according to police.

But the elderly man was unarmed, and instead of a gun, police found 'a dark colored simulated woodgrain crucifix,' according to a police statement cited by USA Today.

Serna's neighbor returned home with a friend and got out of the car in her driveway, only to find the 73-year-old standing behind her with his right hand hidden inside his jacket, according to police.

Serna questioned her about living in the neighborhood, and told her to open the car door so he could have a look inside. The woman's friend complied.

The neighbor saw a 'dark brown or black handled object that she believed was a gun,' and ran inside the house, telling her husband to call the police.

When the husband called 911, he told the dispatch without expressing any doubt that Serna was armed and brandishing a revolver, according to Assistant Police Chief Lyle Martin.

When Selman and several other officers arrived, the neighbor pointed at Serna and yelled, 'That's him!'

The elderly man walked towards them with both hands concealed inside his jacket, and did not follow orders to stop and show his hands, police said.

Selman fired seven rounds at the 73-year-old even though he did not lunge at the officers or exhibit any threatening behavior, Martin said.

Martin also said the police failed to utilize 'lower levels of force'.

Selman was the only officer who opened fire just 20 to 30 seconds after the neighbor yelled, and Serna was pronounced dead in the driveway on the same block of his home.

A search of the scene revealed Serna was not armed. Police found a 'dark colored crucifix' instead.

Selman and six other officers have been put on administrative leave pending an investigation, Martin said.

While the 73-year-old's son claimed he was shot nine times, Martin told reporters on Tuesday that Selman fired seven rounds.

'Right across the street is where the police shot my father with nine bullets to his body, and my dad was not armed,' Rogelio Serna said in a video on Facebook.

'My father was MURDERED by BAKERSFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT' he wrote.

Rogelio wrote in another post that his father was in the early stages of dementia and would go on walks when he had trouble sleeping.

'My dad did not own a gun. He was a 73-year-old retired grandpa, just living life,' Rogelio Serna told the Times.

'He should have been surrounded by family at old age, not surrounded by bullets,' he added.

Serna was a father of five, grandfather of 16 and great-grandfather of five.

He lived with his wife and one of his daughters. He worked at a cotton gin in California's Central Valley until he retired more than a decade ago.

Rogelio Serna said his father had been suffering from delusions and other early signs of dementia over the course of the last year, and his condition had deteriorated in the past month.

Police had visited the house twice before because his confused father activated a medical alarm, Rogelio Serna said.

Rogelio Serna filmed another video on Tuesday, alerting supporters to a candlelight vigil that was being held that day.

He paid tribute to his father and said: 'He was taken from us sooner than expected. Not from a sickness, but from senseless police.'

Rogelio Serna added that his father was not tasered, and said: 'I've got nothing against the police, but it's got to stop against innocent people. Enough is enough already. '