Death by Cop 2021-2025
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Brandon Dean Lena
Age : 47
Gender : Male
Race : Latino/a/e
Date : 08/02/2024
Location : SE 74th St and S Sooner Rd
City : Oklahoma City
County : Oklahoma
State : Oklahoma
Agency : Oklahoma City Police Department
Officer(s) :James Doran; Joshua Geerdes; Jimmy Hatfield
Cause of Death : Gunshot
Event : Killed by police during mental health crisis
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :
On 08/02/2024 at approximately 3:10 a.m., Oklahoma City police responded to 7021 Eagles Landing, near Southeast 74th Street and South Sooner Road, after receiving a report that 47-year-old Brandon Lena was experiencing a suicidal crisis and walking in the residential street with a handgun. The caller reported that Lena had spoken about provoking police into killing him.
Officers found Lena outside holding a pistol. Police surrounded him from positions in the street and behind patrol vehicles and repeatedly ordered him to put down the gun. The encounter continued for approximately one hour while Lena walked through the street and police maintained their firearms trained on him.
Body-camera video shows officers discussing Lena’s mental-health crisis and describing his conduct as an attempt to make police shoot him. Officers continued issuing commands while Lena remained in the roadway with the handgun.
Police eventually fired less-lethal impact projectiles at Lena. Body-camera audio recorded an officer directing another officer to “shoot him again,” referring to the continued use of less-lethal ammunition. The projectiles struck or were fired toward Lena but did not cause him to release the handgun.
At approximately 4:10 a.m., police said Lena raised the handgun and pointed it toward officers. Officers James Doran, Joshua Geerdes and Jimmy Hatfield then fired their guns at him. Police gunfire struck Lena, and he died at the scene. Each officer had worked for the Oklahoma City Police Department for approximately four years at the time of the shooting.
The Oklahoma City Police Department classified Lena’s killing as its fifth police shooting and its 55th homicide investigation of 2024. The department placed Doran, Geerdes and Hatfield on administrative leave while investigators reviewed the shooting. Police released a community incident briefing containing body-camera footage on 08/23/2024.
The Oklahoma County grand jury subsequently reviewed the killing. Jurors heard testimony from two detectives and examined more than two dozen exhibits, including officers’ body-camera recordings, police-vehicle camera footage, interviews and photographs. On 10/30/2024, authorities announced that the grand jury had declined to bring criminal charges against Doran, Geerdes or Hatfield.
Lena’s death occurred amid a broader federal investigation into Oklahoma City’s emergency response to people with behavioral-health disabilities. In January 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that Oklahoma City and its police department routinely relied on armed police responses to mental-health emergencies in ways that escalated encounters and discriminated against people with behavioral-health disabilities.
SOURCE LINKS :
https://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/OKOKC-3ace698?wgt_ref=OKOKC_WIDGET_6
https://okcfox.com/news/local/1-dead-after-officer-involved-shooting-in-oklahoma-city-neighborhood-subject-mental-health-handgun-street-neighborhood-early-morning-report-oklahoma-city-police-officers-non-lethal-force-attempt-weapons-shooting-department-le
