west sacramento
A man walks by a police patrol car on Tuesday, April 21, 2015, in a parking lot along the West Capitol Avenue strip in West Sacramento, Calif.
AP Photo/Martha Irvine
  • Police in Sacramento, California, shot and killed Robert Coleman, an 88-year old Black man, on Saturday. Days later, it was discovered that Coleman was a former member of the police department, the Sacramento Bee reported. 
  • “Many people are impacted any time a life is lost. In this case, Mr. Coleman was not only a loving husband and a caring father, but he was also a member of the West Sacramento Police Department family for almost 10 years,” the West Sacramento Police Department said in a statement.
  • Coleman held several positions at the department between the late 1990s and early 2000s. 
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Authorities in California identified a Black man that police officers fatally shot on Saturday as a former employee of the West Sacramento police department, The Sacramento Bee reported.

The local coroner identified the man as Robert Coleman,  an 88-year-old from West Sacramento, according to a statement released by the local police department.

“Many people are impacted any time a life is lost. In this case, Mr. Coleman was not only a loving husband and a caring father, but he was also a member of the West Sacramento Police Department family for almost 10 years,” the West Sacramento Police Department said in a statement on Monday. 

Police said that Coleman held multiple jobs at the department, serving as a code-enforcement officer, parking officer, and a police volunteer. 

According to KCRA-TV, Coleman was shot by officers on Saturday after they responded to an unrelated 911 call about a man with a gun, the West Sacramento police department said in a separate statement.

When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered Coleman in a vehicle parked nearby. According to the statement from the department, an officer tried to engage with Coleman at that point, but the man "exited the vehicle armed with a handgun and a shooting ensued." The city plans to release body camera footage of the incident.

Coleman's family said it told police the man was battling with mental illness at the time. The officers involved were placed on administrative leave.

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