No audio captured in bodycam video when man was fatally shot by Stockton police

Edited body camera footage released by the Stockton Police Department Thursday shows that 20-year-old Jaden Durand Mixon was shot and killed just six seconds after two officers arrived in a patrol car near Hammer Lane and Mariners Drive on June 4.

The roughly nine-minute-long video starts with audio excerpts from 911 calls dispatchers received minutes before the fatal shooting.

The deadly encounter began at 7:48 p.m. that night, according to police. That's when a woman who was in the area told dispatchers she saw a man run into oncoming traffic and attempt to carjack a driver.

"The closer I got, I seen that he has a gun, and he was trying to stop the car," she said.

Then, at 7:51 p.m., another 911 caller told dispatchers she was driving around Mariner's Cove and Falconcrest apartment complexes when a man ran into the middle of the street, right in front of her vehicle.

"I thought he wanted me to hit him, and then he was, like, waving his arms at me. I thought he wanted me to stop," the caller said. She later added that she did not see the man holding a weapon, but the driver in front of her told her "he's waving a gun at people."

After the two audio excerpts, the video shows footage captured by a nearby business' camera. In the footage, Mixon is seen pointing what appears to be a gun toward a vehicle passing by, then proceeds to walk into the street.

Further footage from a city traffic camera near Hammer and Mariners shows Mixon pull an object out of his waistband while standing in the roadway. Officers Brian Tualla and Gianni Azevedo arrive on the scene and Mixon drops the object, raises his arms above his head briefly, then runs to retrieve the object and points it toward officers.

Because the footage is grainy, it's unclear what he had in his waistband, but police said what Mixon retrieved was a 9mm Glock. That's according to the statement police released two days after the incident and a message officers left in the video.

Audio delay explained

It's also unclear from the video files released if officers gave commands to Mixon before firing their weapons. Police spokesman David Scott said officers ordered the man to drop the gun before shooting.

Tualla's body camera footage shows the encounter, but no audio was captured during the first 21 seconds after officers exit their vehicle — including the moments when Mixon was fatally shot multiple times. When the audio begins, Mixon's body is lying on the street, and Tualla can be heard asking Azevedo if he has his camera on.

According to the Stockton Police Department's general order regarding body cameras, officers are required to wear body cameras and they must be turned on at the beginning of their shifts — before being assigned to their first call for service or taking any proactive enforcement strategy.

However, audio is not recorded until the officer activates the body camera, Scott said. Upon activation, audio and video will turn on, but the camera has a buffer — a video without audio for the first 30 seconds after the camera is activated.

"When officers grab their BWCs (body-worn cameras) at the beginning of their shifts to put them on their uniform, they are powered on, at which point the 30-second video buffer is started," he said. "When officers activate their body camera, audio and video start."

An officer may activate their body camera "any time they feel its use would be appropriate and/or valuable to document an incident," the policy reads. This includes enforcement encounters, probation or parole searches, vehicle pursuits, K-9 deployments, and any contact that becomes adversarial.

In the video, police include a brief explanation that the feature "is designed to capture incidents that occur suddenly where an officer doesn't immediately activate their camera."

Both officers have returned to duty, according to Scott. However, the department is conducting an internal use-of-force review, and a multi-agency critical incident investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information can contact the Stockton Police Department's Investigations Division at (209) 937-8323.

Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Stockton police release bodycam video from Jaden Durand Mixon shooting