Concord police release full video depicting fatal officer-involved shooting

Concord police on Friday released video footage and dispatch recordings from an incident on Dec. 1 in which officers fatally shot a 60-year-old man who they alleged was attacking his elderly parents.

Donald James Everson was shot by at least one of two officers who fired multiple shots at him when he didn’t drop a knife and plastic gun he was holding inside the home in the 900 block of Oasis Drive shortly after 11:45 a.m., police said.

Officers performed life-saving measures, including CPR, on Eversen but he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.

In the video, Concord police said:

“By releasing this video we are not drawing any conclusions about this incident or rendering any findings.”

They said:

“Our goal is to present the information so that the community has a better understanding about what happened that day.”

The video begins with the recording of a 911 call in which Eversen’s 85-year-old mother and 90-year-old father told a dispatcher that Eversen was acting erratically and possibly was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Eversen’s mother told the dispatcher that they had had problems with Eversen in the past, that they recently had taken him to a psychiatric ward and were planning to get a restraining order against him the next day.

When officers arrived outside the house, the dispatch recording indicates that Eversen told his father:

“You better tell them to leave or I’ll kill them.”

Everson is also heard saying:

“I’m going to kill some cops if they don’t turn around.”

Concord police said in their statement on the video that officers used a public address system to try to get Eversen to leave the home but weren’t successful.

The recording shows that Eversen’s father then came out of the house, having suffered severe bleeding in his face.

The father told officers that his wife also was hurt so officers decided to enter the home because there was a potential threat to her life, police said.

The video shows that when officers broke down the front door and entered the house they discovered that Eversen had a knife in his right hand and was straddling his mother.

The officers yelled at Eversen to stop what he was doing but he didn’t comply and the video indicates that they fired approximately 10 shots at him.

Eversen’s parents were then taken to a local hospital, where they were treated for serious injuries.

Concord police said:

“We’re hopeful Mr. and Mrs. Eversen as expected will recover from the injuries they suffered in this tragic incident.”

Police said the shooting is being investigated by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office and also will be reviewed by a coroner’s inquest jury.