Video shows San Diego police shooting man who charged them

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Video from home surveillance and police body cameras show a San Diego police officer fatally shooting a mentally ill Mexican man last week who was wielding a metal curtain rod when he charged officers.

Mexican officials have strongly criticized the Oct. 19 killing and another fatal shooting of a Mexican man four days later by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in San Diego.

Carlos Gutierrez Gonzalez, the Mexican consul general in San Diego, said Wednesday after the video was made public that both victims had psychological problems.

“We are, as you may imagine, concerned because of the excessive use of force in both cases on the part of law enforcement agencies, as well as by the fact that it seems that in both cases both individuals were suffering serious mental health problems, which in itself, made them vulnerable,” he said in an interview.

In the first shooting, body-worn camera footage released by the San Diego Police Department shows a screaming Jose Alfredo Castro Gutierrez, 39, sprinting toward police on a dark street while clutching the black curtain rod. Castro falls to the ground when he is shot, and writhes until officers came to his side to help. He died hours later at a hospital.

Police have said Officer Isai Castillo fired his pistol at the man, who was struck at least once. Other officers fired bean-bag rounds and a stun gun at Castro.

Castillo can be heard shouting commands at Castro in Spanish, ordering him to drop the object in his hand. Another officer shouted “drop it” in English several times.

Eugene Iredale, an attorney who is advising the family and the Mexican government, said the killing was unwarranted. Iredale conceded that police might have been justified in firing non-lethal rounds since they were being charged at in...