Police Release 911 Call Placed Before Officer Shot Unarmed Student

Long Beach police on Wednesday released a 911 call placed before the fatal shooting of an unarmed 20-year-old college student by an officer.

Feras Morad jumped through the glass of a second-story window the evening of May 27 before getting into a confrontation with an officer.

Police and some witnesses claim the responding officer could not restrain Morad, who allegedly "threatened to harm the officer."

The officer fatally shot Morad during the confrontation, sparking a debate among witnesses and on social media as to whether the officer should have used lethal force.

In the 911 call placed the evening of May 27, a woman tells a Long Beach Fire Department dispatcher that there is a man in a nearby alley acting "very intoxicated" and "kind of irate."

"I think one of our neighbors might be intoxicated and they fell out of a window and they're bloody," the caller says. "He's kind of irate. They're walking around, some friends are trying to get him back."

"He fell out of a second-story window, or jumped, I don't even know. He's walking around very intoxicated and bloody," the caller says.

When the dispatcher asks if the man is bleeding, the caller replies, "not the head I believe, but the arm, torso."

The dispatcher asks if the man is acting violent.

"I think he is a little bit violent," the caller says. "He's got to be in his 20s."

"And you think he’s been drinking?" the dispatcher asks.

"Yeah, I think we need police, also," the caller replies.

"I'll send the police. We have help on the way, OK? Is he in the alley to the rear of the location?" the dispatcher asks.

"Yeah, he's walking around the whole alley of our, behind our house," the caller replies.

In the call, the fire department dispatcher then calls a Long Beach Police Department dispatcher and describes what the caller just reported.

"The caller did advise that he is drunk and he is violent and he's bleeding heavily, and so she said she wanted PD out because he was screaming and acting erratic," the fire department dispatcher says."

"And he fell out of a second-story window," the dispatcher adds.

When the police dispatcher asks if the man had weapons, the fire department dispatcher replies, "No weapons."

Some witnesses to the shooting said Morad could have been restrained another way, while others say the officer had no choice.

"If that officer wasn't there, I guarantee you 10 people from this neighborhood could have gotten that intoxicated child down on the ground and into an ambulance for help," said a witness, who did not want to be identified. "He needed help, he didn't need to die."

"At that moment (the officer) was solo and I think in his mind he had to make a decision," witness Bob Garner said. "And his decision, I believe from what I saw, was two Tasers and a fall from a second story did zero. 'I have no other choice.' That's what it appeared like to me."

Long Beach police have defended the officer involved, who has since been placed on desk duty.

"(Morad) was literally covered in blood, had a significant injury," LBPD Deputy Chief David Hendricks said. "He didn't seem phased by those at all."

"He did threaten to harm the officer," Hendricks said.

The officer used "verbal commands," stunned Morad with a Taser, and used a flashlight with force to try to restrain him, police said.

"It wasn't until the end when the options ran out that he felt the need to resort to lethal force," Hendrickson said.

Morad, of Woodland Hills, was described by his family as a nationally-ranked debate competitor with ambitions of becoming a lawyer.

Friends and relatives have sparked a social media firestorm in Morad's defense, starting campaigns to spread the word about his shooting and calling for justice, using the hashtag #Justice4Feras.

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