The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office released its official report on April 3 regarding the investigation of the officer-involved shooting of Javier Gaona, finding that Santa Maria Police Department officers were justified in using lethal force.
Gaona, who was 31 years old at the time, died shortly after being shot multiple times on the corner of Enos and Broadway streets during the morning hours of July 20, 2016. The incident was witnessed by at least a dozen people, including a Sun reporter, and was captured on cell phone video.
Several officers were called to the Coast Hills Federal Credit Union at 1203 S. Broadway at 8:44 a.m. Officers Kevin Cota and Matthew Holton arrived on scene, where they found Gaona standing on the road’s center median, according to the report.
Gaona then walked backward toward the FoodsCo sign with a knife to his throat. He refused police commands to drop the knife, which began the roughly 45-minute standoff.
Gaona demanded several times that the police shoot him, the report stated. Officer William Jackson said Gaona appeared to be high on a stimulant.
Police tried to negotiate with Gaona to drop the knife, but they weren’t successful.
“You know it’s a sin to kill yourself,” Santa Maria Police Detective Felix Diaz said to Gaona, according to the report.
“I am not going to kill myself, you are going to kill me,” Gaona reportedly replied. “I am your f—ing king motherf—er. The king of your f—ing bullets.”
Police then fired several non-lethal beanbag rounds at Gaona to get him to drop the knife, but that didn’t work either. Seconds later, police fired multiple bullets at Gaona.
An autopsy revealed Gaona was shot 14 times, although the report states one bullet could’ve caused multiple wounds. A toxicology report showed Gaona had methamphetamine in his system.
The knife that Gaona was armed with was found to be so dull that it couldn’t cut through the rubber gloves worn by a detective investigating the scene, the report stated.
Attorneys Bill Schmidt and Eric Schweitzer, who are representing Gaona’s family, said they aren’t surprised by the report. They added that Gaona’s death was unnecessary, and the police could’ve handled it differently.
The biggest contention is whether Gaona lunged or stumbled toward the officers.
Camera footage from across the street showed that Gaona was disoriented from being hit with the beanbag rounds and stumbled forward, toward the officers, Schmidt said, making them believe that he lunged toward them.
That’s not what Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley said regarding how the event played out.
Several bystanders who witnessed the shooting told Sheriff’s Office investigators that Gaona stood up after being hit with beanbags and then moved toward officers with the knife, Dudley explained.
“All of the percipient witnesses we spoke to in the report said they didn’t see him stumble toward the officers, they saw him lunge with a knife,” Dudley said.
At least three officers—Gabriel Alvarez, Ernest Salinas, and Jackson—who fired at Gaona told investigators they felt they and their colleagues were in imminent fear of being harmed.
“A police officer may use deadly force where the circumstances create a reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury in the mind of the officer,” the report stated.
Regardless, Schweitzer said the beanbag rounds were improper for a man who was suffering a mental health crisis.
“The nonlethal rounds caused increased agitation,” Schweitzer said. “The police had no reason to hurry the situation.”
Santa Maria Police Chief Ralph Martin declined to comment, as is standard for the department in an open case.
Because the District Attorney’s Office found that the officers were justified in using deadly force, they won’t be facing criminal charges. However, officers Salinas, Alvarez, Jackson, and two additional officers—Matt Holton and Rafael Torres—are named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed on March 13.
A specific amount of money in damages wasn’t mentioned in the lawsuit, but Schweitzer and Schmidt said they are seeking damages based on the findings.
“It’s not about the money,” Schmidt said. “In the future, we want them to do a steadied response instead of an emotional reaction to what they perceive is resistance.”
This article appears in Apr 13-20, 2017.
