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Nicholas Robertson, 28, was gunned down in a hail of bullets in Lynwood, California on Saturday morning by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.

And despite what authorities claim, the video does not show him reaching for a weapon.

Robertson, who was allegedly armed, was about 40 to 50 feet from the deputies, back turned and walking away at a normal pace, when they opened fire. Once he had been repeatedly hit with gunfire, the father of three was struggling to crawl to a nearby Arco gas station when additional shots were fired.

In total, the eyewitness video obtained by KTLA, shows the deputies firing an estimated 30 shots at Robertson, many of them while he was on the ground posing no threat to anyone.

A loaded .45 caliber handgun was reportedly found at the scene.

Sheriff Jim McDonnell, concerned about growing crowds and the inevitable backlash to such a heinous abuse of force, said that people shouldn’t draw conclusions from the video.

“In this modern age of cellphone video and instant analysis on the Internet, I would ask that we keep in mind that a thorough and comprehensive investigation is detailed and time-intensive,” McDonnell said in a statement. “It will involve not just one source of information, but numerous sources, potentially including multiple videos, physical evidence and eyewitness accounts.”

WATCH VIDEO BELOW: WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT***

Protests quickly swelled at the site with supporters screaming, “No more stolen lives!”

“They shot him,” said Tracy Brown, 47, a relative of Nekeisha Robertson, Robertson’s wife, who cried uncontrollably into her uncle’s arms. “They shot him; as he crawled, they continued to shoot him.”

According to family members, they did not know Robertson to carry a weapon.

This is a developing story. Check with HB for updates.

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