Amid the chaotic foot pursuit in downtown Eureka Tuesday evening that ended with 26-year-old Clayton Lee Lasinski shot once in the chest, officers fired more than 40 shots, Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills confirmed to the Journal.
Lasinski remains hospitalized, but is expected to survive. No officers were injured in the incident, and Mills also confirmed this afternoon that he doesn’t believe Lasinski ever fired his .45 caliber pistol during the incident that took place shortly before 5 p.m.
“I do not believe he fired any rounds — I believe he didn’t know how to manipulate the gun,” Mills said, explaining that the gun taken from Lasinski at the end of the incident had a full clip, an empty chamber and its hammer cocked back, which Mills believes indicates Lasinski didn’t realize he had to pull a round into the gun’s chamber in order to fire and was “dry firing” the weapon at officers.
The incident began after a California Highway Patrol officer attempted to pull Lasinski’s Dodge pickup truck over after he allegedly rolled through a stop sign when turning westbound on Fourth Street in Eureka. Lasinski then allegedly pulled the truck into the parking lot of the Best Western, where he bailed on foot — leaving two female passengers in the car — and fled the scene.
The CHP officer asked EPD to assist in canvassing the area for Lasinski, saying he was possibly armed with an unknown weapon. A few moments later, the officer called dispatch to report that Lasinski was in possession of a handgun, according to a Best Western employee who said the suspect had pointed the gun at him while fleeing the property.
An EPD officer finally spotted Lasinski near Seventh Street and pursued the suspect on foot. Lasinski allegedly ran into the parking lot of Sole Savers auto dealership, where he found a red Mazda 3 idling in a loading bay with its passenger door open. Lasinski got into the Mazda as the officer approached, according to a witness interviewed by the Journal, and the officer opened fire into the driver’s side door area of the vehicle. A moment later, the witness said, the Mazda peeled out and fled the scene. On Wednesday, numerous bullet holes were visible in a white equipment shed in the loading bay behind where the Mazda had been idling the night before.
Additional shots were fired as the Mazda left the Sole Savers parking lot, according to the witness. The vehicle came to a stop a block away, in the intersection of Sixth and B streets, where additional shots were fired. Lasinski then fled down B Street toward Fifth Street, stopping at one point, according to a witness, to turn and point his pistol at pursuing officers, and drew more police fire. Ultimately, officers pursued Lasinski onto Fifth Street, where he stopped about halfway down the block between B and C streets, leaning against a black Volkswagen Jetta. Officers staged nearby with weapons drawn, but waited as Lasinski appeared to bleed out and collapse to the ground. At that point, they moved in, pulled a firearm from Lasinski’s hand and called for medical to come and assist him. According to witness accounts and video of the incident, officers did not attempt to provide first aid as they waited for paramedics staged nearby to move in and care for Lasinski.
Several sources not authorized to speak publicly about the multi-agency investigation into the officer involved shooting told the Journal that the preliminary investigation indicates officers fired a total of 44 rounds during the pursuit. Mills said he couldn’t confirm that number, but said he could confirm that “more than 40” shots were fired during the incident.
Meanwhile, the investigation is ongoing. Mills said the four officers who fired their weapons were scheduled to be interviewed this afternoon and will remain on administrative duty until cleared to return to the field. Their names have not yet been released to the public.
At a press conference Wednesday, Mills said he understands “that each officer is personally accountable for every round that they discharge and where that round ends up. And I will report back to the community once we’ve completed that investigation as to our actions last night.”
Mills said today that investigators have been working hard to figure out where every round discharged by EPD officers was fired, as well as where they ended up. The investigation remains ongoing.
This article appears in Homeless State University.
Forty four rounds and they hit the guy one time? That scares me more than the guy with the gun.
The cops are idiots… 40 shots… what are they… storm troopers? cant hit a fly on a wall… hope they get sued and lose
As a Marksmanship Instructor I can say they “blew every gun safety rule”! This is just amazing coming from the people supposed to be Serving and Protecting. I would think that a major investigation should come of this. There’s plenty of bullets out there that did not hit the Suspect, but impacted something. All involved should be personally responsible for any and all property damage and return to a marksmanship program other than the one that looks like someone fudged paperwork.
That’s a sickening display of trigger happy idiots, period.
The chief said in the press conference that none of these officers are new hires. I think the number of rounds speaks to the level of the threat; 4 officers saw a threat and 4 fired at a dangerous armed MOVING skinny and likely drugged suspect who had already threatened and pointed his gun at innocents. It’s got to be very dynamic rapidly changing situation. No rounds hit innocents so they knew their background was clear but if a suspect is pointing a gun at you or raising his gun toward you what would you do? You going to do the job? Until the state keeps these people locked up, officers are tasked with split second life and death decisions involving the the lives of themselves and their partners.
Anyone who thinks a running gun battle is easy has never attained any level of skill with a firearm.
Do the best you can with what you’ve got. No officers injured. No civilians injured. Bad guy down.
EPD obviously did everything right. Running and gunning is only easy in the movies.
The Chief of Police also stated that the suspect never fired a single round. Yes he did point a loaded condition 3 weapon at the police at that point it’s completely fine to draw. But a dry hammer falling is a noise someone properly trained for gun battle will quickly realize. 8 years in the USMC during time of war. We had to call back to CP to return fire, funny thing called Geneva Convention and Laws of war. But hey look out in Eureka
Unbelievable, 44 shots fired and only one hit target?! We are lucky that an innocent by stander wasn’t hit. Willie Nellie just firing off shots..with families and children walking the streets. I think they need a refresher coarse on police training, and not just target practice. Frightening. It’s like pack mentality, one starts shooting, they all do. Incredible. They should be embarrassed.
I see one bullet hole in the hood of that car nearer the drivers side. That indicates the vehicle was traveling toward an officer. Cars can be used as weapons too. Was that a willy nilly shot? No, that’s an aimed shot that was just too low. More training for cops? Never a bad thing but when should that happen and for how long? Society expects the police to solve all of societies ills and get it right every time. And the topics for training and the methods are endless making them “Jacks of all trades Masters of none” but with all the scrutiny and liabilities of a surgeon who, as opposed to the police, gets to perform only ONE speciality in a static operating room. Enjoy… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RUUZ2fKVqcs
There is more than one reason to shoot at an armed assailant; One is to disable the opponent, another is to suppress their firing; making them keep their head down and not be able to aim carefully to get in a good shot. Keep the other guy on the defensive. I don’t think anyone goes to work thinking that today they’re going to be shot at or have to shoot, so there is an adrenaline factor, and there is no plan in such an impromptu situation. At that point, all you can do is your best