A 73-year-old man who, according to his family, was suffering from the initial stages of dementia was fatally shot early Monday by a police officer in Bakersfield, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reports.
According to the report, officers responded around 12:30 a.m. to a call about a man brandishing a handgun in a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the city, Bakersfield Police Sgt. Gary Carruesco confirmed.
A witness pointed police upon their arrival to a man in the driveway of a residence, authorities said. An officer fired multiple rounds at the man, who was then pronounced dead at the scene.
That man has since been identified as Francisco Serna by the Kern County County Coroner's Office. Serna, a retired father of five children, lived on the block where the shooting occurred with his wife and one of his daughters, his son Rogelio Serna told the Times.
Rogelio Serna said that his father did not own any gun.
“My dad did not own a gun. He was a 73-year-old retired grandpa, just living life,” Rogelio Serna said. “He should have been surrounded by family at old age, not surrounded by bullets.”
Investigators who canvassed the area after the shooting did not recover any gun, Carruesco said. Rogelio Serna said that police searched the family's home and cars and did not discover a firearm in those locations, either.
Rogelio Serna told the Times that his father was showing early signs of dementia and often had difficulty sleeping, and so sometimes went on late-night walks to tire himself out.
He added that Bakersfield police had visited his father's home at least twice prior to the incident because his father had become confused and activated a medical alarm.
Read more at the Los Angeles Times.