And while San Pedro residents rally against crime, city residents are railing against the police's abuse of lethal force. That's after police shot 37-year-old construction worker Steven Emmanuel Buckley on Wednesday night at a routine stop and search. He received as many as 12 shotgun pellets in his head as the police opened fire on the pickup his boss was driving.

It happened at the corner of Kraal Road and Guerrero Street and eyewitnesses as well as those in the truck say police didn't ask any questions, they simply opened fire with two blasts form an inspector's pump action shotgun.

The police did not issue their version of events until 8:34 last night, 24 hours after it happened. And that reported that the officer, quote, "saw the driver and the victim go down, as to pick up something from the floor where the police pointed a shotgun in the direction of the Dodge Ram pickup cranked it, after which it went off penetrating the windshield and injuring Buckley.

That's the exact wording of the police report -- that the gun simply "went off." Police sheepishly elaborated this position at a press conference today.

ASP Julio Valdez
"Police stopped them and they were asked to come up to the vehicle. Subsequently, the police came out where a shot was fired which caught the male person, Stephen Buckley, in the face."

Jules Vasquez,
"What is the officer then saying? Is he saying that it was accidental?"

ASP Julio Valdez
"That was the claim."

He claimed it was an accident – but then by multiple accounts and the evidence of this windshield there were two shots. Police say that so far, evidence does not support that.

ASP Julio Valdez
"At this time, we only heard about one shot being fired."

Vaughan Gill, Reporter, Vibes Radio
"Eyewitnesses in the neighborhood that I spoke to that I live in say that two shots were fired. If one looks at the vehicle itself, one would see if you're talking about a shotgun one would see two distinct big holes which would suggest that the bulk of the cartridges went through those two spots."

ASP Julio Valdez
"What we have on record is that one shot had been fired. We have retrieved only one cartridge expended shell from the scene at this time. That's what we have so far. We are not saying no there is not a possibility. But, at this time."

ACP David Henderson
"Yes there have been a number of comments, but we can go by what evidence we have. As far as what I have been briefed that there is one expended shell that has been retrieved. I would not deny, but I cannot confirm, that there have been other shells. We only can go by what we have as evidence."

So police are going by evidence - but what about procedure? Is it a policy of shoot first and ask questions later? Using his trademark generalities, Segura outlined what should have been done

ACP Mike Segura
"The procedure is safety and compliance... It's command and control, 'Sir, come out of the vehicle, heads up' depending on the aspect of security. As far as I am concerned, I am not have that much knowledge in respect of how they went about complying with that. But the policy as far as I know, and my experience with the training, is your command and control depending on threat. And then, once you control the threat, you use sufficient force to bring it out."

ACP Mike Segura
"As a law enforcement officer on any given street, they must always remember what is justifiable use of force and harm. ... But the issue that we are investigating is the proper use of the justification of the force of harm."

ACP David Henderson
"At the end of the day, every officer is responsible for their own act. And every incident or every situation, you as the police officer must justify your action. If your actions are not justifiable then you could be held liable."

Vaughan Gill, Reporter, Positive Vibes
"Is it the best thing for police to be shooting shotguns in civilian areas?"

ACP Mike Segura "It is true when you learn lessons learned and these are the things that we need to maybe look into."

"All of these scenarios that do occur are of great concern, either the brutality, issue of weapon, that's how the policies could be changed, amended or whatever."

But according to the Commissioner of Police when he spoke on April first, the rule is, shoot first.

Crispin Jeffries,
"If we are confronted or they are confronted, we will have to speak to people in the court system thereafter because they will be shot and killed when they are caught."

Of course in this case, the target of the police shotgun was an innocent, blameless working man who is in critical condition and the public wants to know, 'Will the officer who did it be charged? Segura says it's up to the DPP.

ACP Mike Segura
"You know what is the thing? We don't prosecute because if it's left to you, charge. But what is the use of charging and it is not in a proper, have the evidence that is admissible in a court of law. DPP office are the ones that prosecute. And we need to work jointly."

Jules Vasquez,
"I refuse to accept that you all are trying to pass off intentional, deliberate foot-dragging when it involves police officers as standard procedure when it is NOT standard procedure. If you tell me that exceptional measures have to be taken because of the nature of police work, etc. etc. But if you are trying to say that what happened there is standard. I can't accept that."

ACP Mike Segura
"Possibly you need to divert to the Office of the DPP and ...that would help if you were there, Mr. Jules."

So that means no charges anytime soon. And there's no date set for completion of the investigation.

Buckley is listed in a critical condition.