On December 12, 2010, 35-year-old Douglas Zerby of Long Beach was shot dead by two Long Beach Police Department officers after they responded to a 911 call about a man with a six-shooter. Zerby was sitting on a stoop in the Belmont Shore neighborhood holding a garden hose nozzle that officers mistook for a firearm. Officers Jeffrey Shurtleff and Victor Ortiz fired 12 shots; fatal wounds struck Zerby in his lower leg and chest. The officers said they believed he held a gun and acted in self-defense, but they did not identify themselves or issue any verbal warnings before shooting.

Forensic evidence indicated the nozzle was found under Zerby’s thigh, contradicting the officers’ account that he had pointed it at them. Zerby’s blood-alcohol level was 0.42 percent. The Los Angeles County District Attorney declined to file criminal charges, but Zerby’s family sued. A jury later found the police liable for reckless conduct and constitutional violations and awarded $6.5 million to the family, with portions for Zerby’s eight-year-old son River and his parents; the two officers were ordered to pay $5,000 each.

Does anyone have additional firsthand details about the moments before the officers arrived or about community response in Belmont Shore after the shooting?