After residents called to report a man with an "Uzi" style weapon Saturday, he was shot and killed by police who later discovered it was an airsoft rifle, Long Beach police said.
"We heard a barrage of gunfire, like eight or 10 shots," Patricia Porter, whose balcony overlooked the crime scene, said.
The shooting occurred just before 5 p.m. in the area of 21st Street and Locust Avenue.
"What I saw was a bunch of policemen by the alley, they all had their guns drawn," Porter said. "They were like 'Man with a gun, get down, get down,' and then I just heard the shots. It seemed like four or five police opened fire same time."
The man, later identified by coroner's officials as 21-year-old Lionel Gibson of Long Beach, was hit by gunfire and pronounced dead at the scene, Megan Zabel of Long Beach police said.
Zabel said it started with a phone call to police.
"We received a phone call from a citizen that a man with an Uzi-style gun was in the area of 21 Street and Locust Avenue, and this individual was talking to three suspects inside a vehicle," Zabel said.
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After officers fired, they found the gun by his side, which turned out to be an airsoft gun — not an assault rifle.
"I can tell you I've seen a picture of it, and it looks very realistic," Zabel said.
Long Beach police detained the men inside the car, but it wasn't clear how they were involved. One was armed with a handgun, Zabel said.
No officers were hurt. The shooting was under investigation.
