SALINAS, Calif. —Some citizens accused Salinas police of using excessive force Tuesday when officers fatally shot a man who was armed with gardening shears.
It was the third fatal officer-involved shooting in Salinas this year and the second one in the last two weeks.
Tuesday’s fatality happened outside the Y Delicia’s Bakery at Sanborn Plaza. Video of the shooting captured by a witness was posted on the Internet.
Police said they went to the area because a woman called 911 after seeing a man in her backyard holding scissors. She said the man tried to break into her house, threatened to kill her and attacked her dog.
An official statement from the Salinas Police Department also noted that the man exposed his genitals in a sexually explicit manner and made sexually suggestive comments to the woman.
When police arrived, they found the man in the street armed with garden shears. After repeatedly ignoring officers’ instructions to put the shears down, an officer attempted to fire a Taser at the man, but the Taser misfired.
The Salinas Police Department’s statement noted that, “As the suspect continued to ignore the orders of the officers, the suspect retrieved the gardening shears from his backpack. In an aggressive fashion, the suspect swung the gardening shears at the officers who were standing in close proximity and in danger of being stabbed or slashed. In response to this threat, two officers fired their weapons at the suspect.”
The mood of the crowd that gathered moments after the shooting was tense and emotional. Several people yelled at police officers and questioned whether race was a factor in Tuesday’s shooting.
“We ask the community to be patient and remain calm until enough facts are known so that a conclusion as to the appropriateness of the officers’ actions can be determined,” police said.
Some residents raised similar concerns after a shooting 11 days ago at the Mi Pueblo market in Salinas, when officers shot and killed 26-year-old Osman Hernandez. Hernandez was a fieldworker and had a knife that he used for cutting lettuce. But after he drunkenly ran around a busy shopping center swinging his knife in the air, officers fatally shot him.
Dozens of people gathered at Salinas City Hall on Tuesday night to speak before the City Council. Many of them voiced frustration with Salinas police, saying they acted too aggressively in Tuesday’s incident and the one at the Mi Pueblo Market.
The demonstrators asked the council to have the officers involved in the shootings placed on leave until outside investigations are completed.
They also want officer-involved shootings over the last 10 years to be examined and to have a civilian review board set up to deal with resident complaints against the police.
Finally, they are asking for additional firearms training for police.
“Yes, we do have a gang problem. And they’re dressed in blue and they have badges and they’re called the Salinas Police Department,” one man told the council.
While the police chief and the council were called out directly in many of the citizen comments, the only response came from Salinas Mayor Joe Gunter who said the shooting death of Hernandez is still under investigation and will be for several weeks. Gunter also said the City Council will not comment on the investigations.
The two officers involved in Tuesday’s shooting are on paid administrative leave.
Police are not releasing the name of the man who was shot until his family is notified.
See the video for yourself…
http://www.ksbw.com/news/one-person-shot-in-salinas/26078900