California cop, 30, shot dead as he confronts domestic violence suspect

Police in California have released footage of the moment an officer was shot dead by a domestic violence suspect who starting firing immediately without warning when opening his front door.  

Jimmy Inn, 30, arrived at the Stockton home on the morning of May 11 after 911 received calls that a woman had been beaten at the home.

She was seen leaving with her shirt in tatters and covered in blood from the property on the 4400 block of La Cresta Way. 

Inn is heard shouting, ‘Hey police,’ as he stands outside the door to the home. Yelling is heard from within before the suspect, Lance Lowe, pushes the door ajar and immediately starts firing shots at the cop from point blank range.

The officer is hit and can be heard crying out in agony as he falls onto the front lawn as further gunfire reverberates around him.

A second piece of video, from his partner Pancho Freer’s bodyworn camera, shows the other officer springing into action from their patrol car. 

He swings open the driver’s side door and takes aim over the window frame, shooting towards Lowe who returns fire before re-entering the property. 

Inn is heard shouting, ‘Hey police,’ as he stands outside the door to the home. Yelling is heard from within before the suspect, Lance Lowe, opens the door and immediately starts firing shots at the cop

Lowe points a pistol out of the door and fires several shots at Inn from point blank range

Stockton police officer Jimmy Inn, 30,  was shot dead by Lance Lowe, also 30, while responding to reports of domestic violence in Stockton on May 11

‘Shots fired, shots fired. Partner down,’ Freer says into his radio.

Crouching behind a parked car with his weapon drawn, he shouts: ‘Jimmy. Jimmy, stay with me.’

At some point, off camera, Lowe re-emerges from the home holding his eight-year-old son around the neck as neighbours watching scream in terror.

‘Don’t do it, let the kid go man,’ Freer tells Lowe. ‘I don’t want to kill you.’

Lowe can be seen with his arm around his son’s neck who struggles to break free with both of his legs kicking in the air.

‘He’s strangling the kid and my partner is down,’ Freer tells the dispatcher as he crouches behind the car.

A mystery hero then runs out and tackles Lowe to the ground off camera. 

Freer sprints towards Lowe and fires what sounds like seven shots at close range.

Inn and the gunman were rushed to a nearby hospital where they were both pronounced dead.

Lowe can be seen with his arm around his son’s neck who struggles to break free with both of his legs kicking in the air

The driver’s side window of the patrol car is shattered after being struck by gunfire

Inn’s partner Pancho Freer points his gun towards Lowe 

Stockton Police Department released the body camera footage on Tuesday as ‘part of its principles of transparency.’ 

Chief Eric Jones called it a ‘very traumatic incident for everyone.’   

Inn joined the Stockton Police Department in 2015 and was a member of the Field Operation Division.

He left behind his wife, Tela, who is also a Stockton police officer, and three children.

A Stockton Police evidence technician photographs the scene of the officer-involved shooting on May 11

Police cordon off the scene of the fatal shooting in Stockton on May 11

‘He gave the ultimate sacrifice,’ Jones said of Inn last month. ‘He came to work every day putting his life on the line.’ 

Lowe, 30, was jailed for five years in 2018 for grand theft auto with the use of a firearm in Los Angeles County.  

He received 820 pre-sentencing credits, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and 37 post-sentencing credits while awaiting transfer.

In April last year, CDCR said Lowe was released to parole supervision.