Dillan Tabares: Shocking Twitter Video Shows Cop Fatally Shooting Troubled Huntington Beach Navy Veteran
Dillan Tabares, a 27-year-old United States Navy veteran who had recently fallen on hard times, was shot dead by a police officer in Huntington Beach, California, on Friday — and his killing was captured in a shocking video posted to Twitter just hours after the fatal confrontation. While the video sparked outrage, showing the officer — whose name has not yet been released to the public — firing at Tabares seven times until the man collapses against a wall, police say there was more to the incident and defended the officer’s actions.
A new, longer video of the incident posted to YouTube shows the events leading up to the shooting, depicting what appears to be a fistfight between Tabares and the uniformed officer. Both the short and longer videos of the shooting appear below, on this page. Tabares was taken to a nearby hospital following the shooting, but he died from his wounds.
The shooting took place at about 9:30 a.m. Pacific time outside a 7-11 convenience store that is located across the street from Marina High School, the school from which Tabares graduated in 2008 before entering the U.S. Navy, according to a report in the OC Weekly newspaper.
Whatever transpired between the officer and Tabares that led to the confrontation remains unclear. Police have not revealed why the officer, who has been on the force in Huntington Beach for two and a half years, was at the 7-11. But witnesses say that the altercation began when the officer approached Tabares, who then threw a punch at the cop, according to a report on the Tribune Media Wire news service.
A fight ensued and at some point, the officer reportedly tasered Tabares. The two wrestled on the ground and at some point, Tabares apparently grabbed at the officer’s belt, according to a report in the Orange County Register newspaper.
At that point, the officer stood up, and Tabares also stood as the two men separated. The video shows that the officer then fired his weapon seven times and Tabares collapsed to the ground.
The original Twitter video was posted on the morning of September 22. View that video below.
[Warning: the video contains graphically violent content and could prove upsetting to some viewers]
He shot this man because he wanted to know what it felt like to kill. And he knew he would get away with it. #Huntingtonbeach #pigs pic.twitter.com/StQvOB3YbV
— Black Propaganda (@ZuluPanther) September 23, 2017
Another second, longer video of the shooting incident appeared on YouTube about 24 hours later, showing a more complete version of the altercation between Tabares and the Huntington Beach cop. View the longer video below. Viewers, again, should use caution due to the graphic and disturbing nature of the video.
On his Facebook page, Tabares appears to reveal his struggles following his time in the Navy. In one post, Tabares rages against police, claiming that “cops…teamed up with Al Qaeda” to run “human sex trafficking.” In other posts, Tabares appears to praise “Lucifer… the bringer of light,” and states that he was “chosen to fight with the Valkyries.”
Whether Tabares was mentally ill has not been made public, but his Facebook feed suggests that he was dealing with mental health issues following his Navy stint. He characterized himself as depressed and self-medicating for the condition, in another Facebook post, according to the OC Weekly report.
“Clearly, this person attacked our police officer,” Huntington Beach Police Chief Robert Handy said Friday, defending the officer who killed Tabares. “And I don’t think that there’s any way an officer’s expected not to defend themselves.”
[Featured Image by Dillan Tabares/Facebook]
