Arlington police release video of confrontation with man who said he wanted officers to kill him

ARLINGTON, Texas - Arlington police released body camera video of officers' confrontation with a man who said he wanted to be killed.

Arlington officers shot and killed 23-year-old Patricio Gamboa earlier this month.

Police Chief Al Jones said a mental health crisis was fully engaged when officers responded to a man who was armed and suicidal.

He says the outcome was unfortunate, but the safest way for officers to act.

Body camera from Nov. 19 shows a lengthy attempt by officers to deescalate the encounter at a home on Fallcreek Street.

Police say Gamboa ignored their commands to drop his weapon, which officers now say was a shotgun.

Gamboa eventually left the porch where he was standing, walking a few feet away.

"Although you can't hear the man through the phone, you can hear officers trying to build rapport and convince him to put down the weapon," Chief Jones said on Wednesday.

Police say minutes before the shooting, the interaction began with a text exchange between Gamboa and a 911 dispatcher.

Arlington PD says a log of the messages reveals Gamboa typed, "Everything is in place, I’m just having trouble pulling the trigger" and "I know they don’t want to hurt me, but I need to give them a reason to… will cops vest [sic] stop a rifled shotgun slug?"

"He told dispatchers he was armed and that he intended to force officers to shoot and kill him," Chief Jones said.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Man who wanted to 'commit suicide by cop' fatally shot by officers in Arlington

Jones was asked if, instead of firing their service weapons, officers could've used non-lethal force as an option.

"If this gentleman is walking toward us with a shotgun, that's not a time for us to try to use less lethal force. If he would’ve put his weapon down, maybe that would’ve been an opportunity for us, but at this point, we were in the middle of a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, he just didn’t want to comply," the chief said.

Two investigations are underway.

The criminal probe will look into the response and how it was handled.

Another administrative review is to determine if the three officers who fired reacted appropriately.