Man killed by Long Beach police was holding a water nozzle, not a gun, police say

Douglas Zerby, 35, was shot and killed by officers responding to a 911 call of an intoxicated man holding a 'six-shooter' Sunday in the Belmont Shore neighborhood.

"They wanted to shoot him before he shot them," Zapalski said. "There was no time to react. If you're standing there and someone points a gun at you, you're going to react....There was only two of them there. This happened first, and that's why they shot."

Zerby was shot in the torso with a shotgun and handgun, then handcuffed, Zapalski said. He died at the scene.

Zerby, a hardwood floor installer who ran Seaside Flooring in Long Beach, is survived by an 8-year-old son.

Authorities said this was the first fatal officer-involved shooting this year. There have been nine non-fatal shootings in 2010.

Zerby's older sister, Eden Marie Biele, said she was mortified by her brother's death. The two were very close and had spoken a few days before he died, she said.

"Our brother was killed for no reason," she said. "We're outraged. You can't get drunk in the city of Long Beach and not get shot? You're trying to do the responsible thing and not drive and you get shot? Is that standard protocol? They didn't wait for backup, they just shot him."

Zapalski said the officers involved were not rookies but could not immediately say how many years they had served with the department.

Staci Liken, 45, said she saw a police car and a Long Beach Marine Patrol SUV make a U-turn before two officers got out and made their way to the back building where Zerby was sitting. She said within 30 seconds she heard two types of gunshots. She counted at least 15 shots fired.

"This is supposed to be the safest neighborhood around. I don't know what's going on with the police," she said. "This is out of control to shoot and kill when they don't need to."

Zerby had been sitting on the stoop of a friend's house waiting for the friend to return. He often frequented the apartment after he had been drinking and was known to neighbors, his sister said. It was a new tenant who was unfamiliar with Zerby who made the 911 call, she said.

Scores of family and friends gathered at the scene Monday night to light candles and leave flowers and a small Christmas tree.

Her brother was "the happy-go-lucky life of the party," Biele said. "He never ended a phone call without professing his love to you," she said.

Zerby was the second of five children, with blond hair and the build of a surfer. "He was a dear friend, he was an awesome person," said a tearful Douglas Blair, 42, who lived in the studio apartment where Zerby was waiting.

Blair said it was Zerby's third time stopping by his apartment because he was too drunk to go home.

Quarter-sized bullet holes and dozens of smaller ones pierced Blair's staircase and handrails. Two pools of blood remained under the steps to his apartment.

"It's a wonderful place to live, and it's a terrible thing to have happen," Blair said.

Mark Zerby, Douglas Zerby's father, said he last spoke to his son about an hour before he was killed. He noticed that his son, who had a drinking problem for which he had sought help, was slightly drunk.

"He said he wanted to come over and I told him that I was busy," the father said. "And the rest of it is the biggest nightmare you can imagine."

Friends hugged Zerby's family and offered up memories to ease their pain.

"He took us swimming, he bought us cupcakes in 85-degree weather," said Julie McKernie Hampton, 40, who was Zerby's friend and neighbor. "I just can't imagine Doug having a gun."

Biele was outraged by the officers' actions and the inconsistencies in the account. She said police first told her that her brother had been fiddling with the nozzle in his lap, then police Chief Jim McDonnell said Zerby was actually pointing it at the officers.

She bluntly spoke out at a news conference held by McDonnell on Monday and was eventually escorted out.

"We want justice to be served," she said. "It's about bringing attention to a senseless death." She said her family has already contacted attorneys.

The Long Beach Police Department and the Los Angeles County district attorney's office will conduct independent investigations into the shooting.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-long-beach-shooting-20101214,0,5980042,print.story

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Here's a related story:

Family of slain Long Beach man outraged over police shooting, plans to file suit

The family of a 35-year-old Long Beach man shot and killed by police while holding a hose nozzle plans to file a lawsuit against the Long Beach Police Department, the slain man's father said Tuesday.

Doug Zerby, 35, was killed Sunday while sitting on a stoop playing with what police said appeared to be a weapon and pointing it as if it were a gun. But Zerby's family said the police acted irresponsibly, and they are outraged over what happened.

“This has got to stop,” said Mark Zerby. “If we have police doing this stuff, they need to be thoroughly screened. We're hiring them to protect our lives, not take our lives.”

An evening vigil at the scene of the shooting Monday brought out droves of supporters with candles, flowers and messages.

Several mourners yelled “murder” to passing spectators and wrote invectives to Long Beach police on posters near the candlelight. One message read: "LBPD = Shoot First Ask Questions Later That's Murder."

Police officials said the object was actually a pistol-grip water nozzle, and when it was pointed directly at an officer, the officers opened fire, killing Zerby at the scene.

The police department, which has a history of frequent officer-involved shootings, had no new information Tuesday morning.

“All this information is preliminary,” said Sgt. Dina Zapalski, a spokeswoman for the Long Beach Police Department. “We can't have exact answers on everything within 24 hours.”

The family is beginning to conduct its own investigation into the incident, relatives said.

“We've hired a private doctor to investigate my brother's body, a photographer to shoot photographs of him and the crime scene, and a team of private forensic investigators is being assembled,” said Zerby's sister Eden Marie Biele.

She said her family has been approached by at least nine attorneys, over the phone and in person, hoping to represent the family. She said they will be spending the day deciding which one to retain.

“We feel that this is a case of wrongful death. My brother was murdered in cold blood,” she said. “The Long Beach Police Department needs to be held accountable, and justice needs to prevail on behalf of my brother.

"Hopefully we can help them prevent another family from having to go through another tragedy like this.”

Man carrying water nozzle was shot 10 to 12 times by Long Beach police, family's attorney says

Long Beach police had ample time to identify themselves before firing fatal shots at a 35-year-old man holding a water nozzle, according to the findings of an investigation conducted the family's attorney.

Police fatally shot Douglas Zerby, 35, on Sunday when they believed he posed a threat to their safety. Zerby was carrying a metal-tipped water nozzle and pointed it at officers, authorities said. They believed it to be a gun.

At a news conference Friday in Long Beach, attorney Brian Claypool said it is inaccurate to describe the officer-involved shooting as a tragedy.

"The word tragedy suggests this was an unavoidable event," Claypool said. "It was not a tragedy; it was an ambush. This young man never had a chance."

Claypool said there were three wounds flush down Zerby's chest, which leads him to believe that Zerby was not stretching his arms to point the nozzle at officers.

He said Zerby's body also was found leaning against the banister, leading him to believe that Zerby was not being aggressive and already was incapacitated when the shots were fired.

"That area looks like a shooting range," Claypool said. "It was target practice on Dec. 12, 2010, target practice for the Long Beach Police Department."

Zerby's family said it believes he was intoxicated and had stopped at his friend's house instead of driving home. He was sitting on the stoop waiting for his friend when neighbors spotted him and called 911 because they thought he was armed with a gun.

Claypool said his four-day investigation -- based on the scene and witness reports -- showed that officers had ample time to identify themselves to Zerby and determine that he was not holding a real gun. He said they also had enough time to ask neighbors if they recognized him.

Claypool said he believes there were at least five to six officers on the scene and that three probably shot Zerby. Some shots were fired as close as 12 feet away, he said, from positions of protection behind brick posts.

Police have said they ordered Zerby to drop the weapon because they believed he posed an immediate threat. They said two rounds were fired from a shotgun and six were fired from a handgun.

Claypool does not believe Zerby even knew the officers were there. He said witnesses told him that police made a noise "and that's what triggered Doug Zerby to turn toward the officers and that turn is what caused them to open fire."

The family is planning a lawsuit that alleges wrongful death, negligence and battery. Claypool said the family hopes to make police training reforms as a result of the suit.

"Lethal force being utilized was unnecessary," said Eden Marie Biele, Zerby's older sister. "The things that the Long Beach Police Department are saying are not corroborated by what the scene is saying nor by what Douglas' body is saying ... things are not lining up.... I think in this situation and in this incident there were other steps that could've been followed that would have resulted in a very different outcome."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/man-carrying-water-nozzle-was-shot-10-to-12-times-by-long-beach-police-familys-attorney-says.html