GRASS VALLEY, Calif. — "He's walking down Squirrel Creek Road with what appeared to be a shotgun."
That's just part of what's heard in a video just released by the Grass Valley Police Department and the Nevada County's Sheriff's Office. That video, along with 911 audio, sheds new light on an officer-involved shooting that left one man dead in Nevada County on New Year's Day.
Around 1 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2020, Nevada County Sheriff's deputies received reports of a man walking along Squirrel Creek Road near Adam Avenue in Grass Valley with a shotgun over his shoulder, according to a Facebook post from the Nevada County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff's deputies and officers from the Grass Valley Police Department went to the area where they found 25-year-old Gabriel Strikland at the intersection of Oak Drive and Walker Drive with the gun.
In the video, Grass Valley police and Nevada County Sheriff's deputies can be heard yelling, "Drop the gun. Hey drop the gun!" for nearly two minutes.
"We don't know that's a fake gun buddy....we don't know that," a law enforcement officer says to Strikland, almost pleading as he continues with, please drop the gun. We don't want to kill you."
Strikland refuses to put the alleged weapon down, and law enforcement soon moves in with tasers drawn, deploying twice. An image of the ordeal shows that, not long after, Strikland pointed the weapon at an officer, which is when two deputies and a police officer opened fire.
First aid was given, but Strickland later died at the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital in Grass Valley. The Nevada County District attorney's office is now reviewing the case to determine if the officers followed the law.
Meanwhile, the Nevada County Sheriff's office and Grass Valley police department are also reviewing the case to see if the officers followed procedures.
A new California law defines when lethal force can be used. AB 392 allows police to use lethal force only when necessary to defend against an imminent threat of death or serious injury to officers or bystanders.
The officers at the center of the case are on administrative leave as the investigation continues.