Police Brutality / Individual record
Bernard Wells III
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Bernard Wells III in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2016-07-23 in Chino, CA. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-483
- Incident date
- July 23, 2016
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Chino, CA
- Agency
- Chino Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 31
What happened
Bernard Wells III, 31, was fatally shot by Chino police Lieutenant William Covington on July 23, 2016, in a shopping-center parking lot on Central Avenue, California. A family had called police after Wells reportedly approached them and appeared to have a gun in his waistband. When an officer approached Wells's vehicle, Wells ran. Covington joined the pursuit and ordered him to the ground; the officer's body camera recorded Wells pointing a firearm toward him before Covington fired three shots, according to the San Bernardino County district attorney's account. Prosecutors later ruled the officer's shooting legally justified. The charging conclusion is grounded in a review of witness accounts and body-camera evidence, rather than merely the initial department statement.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1727
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- gun
- Flee status (source)
- foot
- Agency IDs (source)
- 1377
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset