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Robert Nelson

Age : 55

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/31/2021

Location : 2400 West Greenleaf Avenue

City : Anaheim

County : Orange

State : California

Agency : Anaheim Police Department

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during shooting incident

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/31/2021, at approximately 11:55 a.m., Anaheim Police Department officers responded to a residence in the 2400 block of West Greenleaf Avenue after a man called police and reported that he had been shot. Officers entered the residence and found 61-year-old David Erickson of Anaheim suffering from fatal gunshot wounds. Erickson was subsequently identified as the person who had called police.
While officers were inside the residence, they encountered 55-year-old Robert Nelson. Anaheim Police alleged that Nelson was armed when officers confronted him. At least one Anaheim officer opened fire on Nelson. The initial responding officers then withdrew from the residence rather than continuing farther into the home, and the department deployed its SWAT team.
SWAT officers subsequently entered the residence and found both Erickson and Nelson dead. Police determined that Nelson had been struck by police gunfire. Contemporary public statements did not provide a detailed reconstruction of precisely what Nelson allegedly did with the weapon immediately before police fired, beyond describing him as armed and saying officers were confronted by him. Accordingly, the available reporting does not establish that Nelson fired at officers or establish that he pointed the weapon at them.
Anaheim Police investigated Erickson's death as a homicide and identified Nelson as the person police believed had killed him. Detectives also investigated the relationship between Erickson and Nelson and the motive for the shooting. Both men were Anaheim residents.
Because Anaheim officers killed Nelson, the Orange County District Attorney's Office opened a separate investigation into the police use of deadly force. Contemporary reporting confirmed that at least one officer fired, but neither the initial Anaheim Police disclosures nor the subsequent publicly indexed reporting located for this update identifies the officer or officers who fired at Nelson.
A deeper search for the shooting officer's identity, including searches using Nelson's name, Erickson's name, the West Greenleaf Avenue address, Orange County District Attorney records, later shooting reviews, litigation and officer-specific references, did not produce a sufficiently reliable identification. The Officer(s) field therefore remains Not Disclosed rather than attributing the shooting to an officer without documentary support.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.ocregister.com/2021/08/31/anaheim-police-shoot-and-kill-man-after-finding-homicide-victim-in-home/
https://abc7.com/anaheim-police-shooting-west-greenleaf-avenue/11009633/
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-01/anaheim-police-shooting-west-greenleaf-avenue
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/homicide-suspect-fatally-shot-by-anaheim-police/2683928/