Dramatic footage shows a California man accused of decapitating his parents and their dog singing “What’s Love Got To Do With It” as he lies on the ground covered in blood before being shot by police.
Joseph Gerdvil, 41, screamed as he lay bleeding on the ground after Orange County Sheriff’s deputies shot him multiple times in the torso outside San Juan Mobile Estates on July 9.
The disturbing incident came moments after police discovered the decapitated bodies of his parents – Ronald Gerdvil, 77, and Antoinette Gerdvil, 79 – along with their mutilated dog in their mobile home.
Gruesome footage shows officers arresting Gerdvil in the middle of the road as he charges towards them on foot, babbling unintelligibly and carrying an unknown object.
An officer shouted at him several times to get on the ground, but Gerdvil didn’t listen.
Dramatic police bodycam footage shows officers intercepting double murder suspect Joseph Gerdvil, 41, in Orange County, California on July 9
Joseph Gerdvil, 41, was shot by Orange County Sheriff’s deputies outside San Juan Mobile Estates on July 9 after he allegedly decapitated his elderly parents and their dog
Joseph Gerdvil is accused of beheading his parents, Ronald Gerdvil, 77, and Antoinette Gerdvil, 79, in their mobile home on July 9
The first three bullets had little effect on Gerdvil, who continued to attack them.
By the fourth blow he had fallen to the ground, blood gushing from his stomach.
Officers yelled at Gerdvil to roll over onto his stomach. He eventually complied. Shortly after, Orange County Sheriff’s deputies rushed to the scene to render aid.
Gerdvil continued to mumble and say, “I love you. I’m sorry you have to die.
Then he made a sad request.
“Finish me off,” the 41-year-old muttered a moment later. “Please put one in my head. I’m begging you.”
As the police came to tend to his wounds, Gerdvil began to sing love songs.
“What’s love got to do with it, got to do with it? What’s love but a secondhand emotion?” he sang from Tina Turner’s 1984 hit, before launching into a Stevie Wonder song.
“I just called to say I love you,” he sang from the song of the same name, also from 1984.
Officers intercepted Gerdvil after he allegedly assaulted a maintenance worker following the murder of his parents. Shortly before the bodycam footage began, he threw a heavy shovel at the officers, police said.
The shovel lies nearby on the ground.
He was taken to the hospital and stabilized, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
He is accused of murder in connection with the deaths of his parents.
Gerdvil is accused of decapitating his elderly parents in their San Juan Mobile Estates home on July 9. He has been charged with two counts of murder
Gerdvil continued to mumble after the shooting, saying, “I love you. I’m sorry you have to die,” as police put handcuffs on his wrists
Neighbors of San Juan Mobile Estates described the family as friendly and quiet
The motive for the brutal beheadings remains unclear.
But neighbor David Desmond said he had seen Joseph fighting with his father the day before.
He described to Fox 11 how the younger Gerdvil was “in his face” and “looked angry” when he confronted his father on Monday.
Another neighbor, Bob Demario, also claimed that Joseph “had a drug addiction.”
“That’s why he lived there and that’s why they kept him there,” Demario claimed.
Joseph posted a number of lewd messages about Jehovah’s Witnesses online and discordant music on YouTube, including one on Monday titled Shots Fired and another called Pope on a Rope, which depicts the pope being hanged.
Others described the family as friendly and calm.
“The woman who lived there walked her dog around the neighborhood all the time,” Tammy Pavese said. “Everybody knew who he was.”
Victoria Alford also said that Antoinette and Ronald were a “very sweet couple.”
“And to be so tragically murdered at that age by your own son is just tragic, period,” she said.