Body camera footage released by Pasadena police shows the moments leading up to when officers opened fire on an armed man chase suspect.
The deadly encounter occurred on April 13 after an officer found a car parked the wrong way on the one-way Hudson Avenue near Del Mar Boulevard. The officer asked 36-year-old Ricardo Guade Andrade for his driver’s license, but he did not have one. At the same time, another officer arrived to assist.
Officers conducted a record check on Andrade, which revealed he did not have a driver’s license. When police asked Andrade to get out of the car, he started driving away, almost hitting one of them.
Andrade then led police on a brief chase before violently crashing into a family’s Tesla parking spot in the driveway of their Arden Road home. He dumped the broken down pickup and ran into the neighborhood.
Pasadena police said the suspect forced his way into two homes while trying to escape. At the first home, in the 900 block of Oak Knoll Circle, the suspect broke through the front window and began rummaging through the homeowners’ belongings, hoping to find a car key. The homeowners hid in their bedroom closets until the suspect left and police arrived.
Andrade then allegedly broke into another home in the 700 block of Oak Knoll Circle. He broke through the back door as the homeowners ran through the front to an officer parked outside.
Police then devised a plan to arrest Andrade using a K9, while a helicopter monitored his movements from above.
The K9 attacked Andrade as he grabbed a Sig Sauer pistol. He began screaming in pain as the K9 dug its teeth into him as officers approached him.
They shouted orders at him and ordered him to raise his hand because they were not sure if he had a gun on him at the time. Andrade said he was going to shoot himself.
Shortly afterwards, police spotted the weapon and opened fire. The body camera footage shared by Pasadena police was unclear and did not show whether Andrade raised the firearm at officers.
He died in the backyard. No officers were injured.
Investigators found Andrade’s firearm with a spent cartridge in the chamber. It is unclear whether he fired the gun during the incident.
