Richmond police release portions of video stemming from deadly shooting of father stabbing son

Richmond police released portions of body camera video related to the fatal shooting of a 54-year-old father who had a history of domestic violence and who was trying to stab and slash his son last month.

The body camera video, which included editing and narration by Lt. Matt Stonebraker, also shows that officers ordered Luc Ciel to drop his knife before they fired and killed him on April 11 in the 900 block of Wilson Avenue at 2:15 a.m. 

Dispatch was alerted that a home invasion was in progress and a father was trying to stab his children.
When police arrived, they were dressed in uniform and gave clear commands, the video shows.

“Drop it! Drop it!,” Officer Jeffrey Tyner is heard saying on the video taken .

Ciel didn’t stop.

Tyner then shoots Ciel in the hallway of the home, as a woman is screaming in the background. The video then cuts to a screen where Stonebraker’s voice tells viewers that Ciel was arrested in 2015 for attempted murder, child cruelty, domestic violence, false imprisonment, criminal threats, displaying a deadly weapon and kidnapping. In 2016, he was convicted of domestic violence and battery. 

As Stonebraker talked, Ciel’s mug shot and still images of the broken home window and the knives used in the attack flashed across the 7-minute video. Clips showed different angles from Tyner’s body camera, as well as the backyard shot taken from Officer Danielle Evans’ point of view. 

Though viewers couldn’t hear it, Stonebreaker said that Ciel made claims he was going to slash his own threat and made threats to his wife.

This is the second officer-involved shooting video that Richmond police has released in the last 10 days. On May 13,  they released a narrated video into the death of Richard “Pedie” Perez. Internal investigations and the Contra Costa County cleared the officers, but last year, Richmond's Citizen Police Review Commission, in a 7-1 vote, sustained a complaint that excessive and unreasonable force was used against Perez. 

The CPRC concluded that the situation didn’t need to escalate into deadly force, and the conclusions of the commission don’t bear any legal impact or otherwise. 

Perez’s parents have long maintained their son was murdered. They sued and in 2016 were awarded an $850,000 settlement that did not require the city of Richmond to admit wrongdoing.

Thi is also the second time Richmond police officers shot sometime this year.  In February, an officer shot and injured a man believed to have a gun, during a foot chase. He was hit several times but survived, police said.