INLAND: Law
enforcement agents' gunfire has killed four and injured two
others over seven days.
10:00 PM PST on Saturday, March
25, 2006
By SONJA
BJELLAND
The Press-Enterprise
Two
men -- a 17-year-old Moreno Valley resident and a motorist
in Coachella -- were shot and killed by law enforcement,
becoming the two latest Inland-area residents to be shot by
officers, bringing the week's total to six.
Israel
Castaņeda began arguing with his stepdad about his younger
brother's bike Friday afternoon, said his cousin Janette
Farias, 16, who was in the Moreno Valley home at the time.
Castaņeda began hitting walls and breaking windows,
surprising Janette and her sister Patricia, 13.
"He
went ballistic," Janette said. "He didn't have to go
ballistic like that."
Moreno
Valley police officers arrived at the home on Kennebec Court
about 4:55 p.m. in response to a family disturbance, said
Deputy Craig Roberts with the Riverside County Sheriff's
Department, which contracts with the city.
When
the officer entered the home, Castaņeda ran into the
attached garage. He jumped onto a sofa bed and armed himself
with a 15-inch metal object, Roberts said.
Accounts differ on what happened next.
According to law enforcement, the officer told Castaņeda to
drop the object and comply with orders. Castaņeda's cousins
who were in the house but not in the garage said they did
not hear the officer say anything before or after the
officer entered the garage.
"We
just heard the gun shots," said Patricia. " ... Why didn't
they tell him to come out with his hands up?"
The
sisters believe the object Castaņeda held was part of a
torso brace he wore since a recent traffic collision.
Castaņeda lunged at the officer with the metal object and
the officer, "fearing for his safety, fired several rounds,"
Roberts said.
The
officer attempted to render first aid and requested medical
aid. Castaņeda was pronounced dead at 5:14 p.m., according
to the Riverside County coroner's office.
Per
Sheriff's Department policy, the officer is on paid
administrative leave and the officer's name has not yet been
released. The Sheriff's Central Homicide Unit is
investigating.
About
two hours later in Coachella, a California Highway Patrol
officer stopped a vehicle, got into a physical altercation
with the driver and shot the man, according to the Riverside
County Sheriff's Department that is investigating the
incident. The officer received minor injuries.
The
CHP officer and others rendered first aid and an ambulance
took the man from La Hernandez Street and La Ponderosa Drive
in Coachella to John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio.
He was pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m., according to the
Riverside County coroner's office, which did not release his
identity.
The
week before, sheriff's deputies shot Sebastian Wolfe, 52,
near Palm Springs after he fired rounds at nearby homes and
threatened the deputies with a gun, according to the
Sheriff's Department. Then on March 18, Fontana police shot
Dominic Rabone, 39, who was armed with a gun in the bushes
outside his ex-girlfriend's home, and another man, David
Robert Rodriguez, 22, after a high-speed freeway pursuit.
The
following day, sheriff's deputies shot a 61-year-old man
near Desert Center after a long standoff. The Riverside
County coroner's office did not release his name.
All
were fatal but the two Fontana incidents.
Shootings by officers can make them more apprehensive while
slayings of officers can lead to heightened vigilance, said
Thomas Aveni, with the Police Policy Studies Council.
"They suffer an enormous emotional distress and they're
going to be second-guessed," Aveni said. "It's not something
any officer would want to go through."
In
the aftermath, investigators must review all circumstances
that contributed to the death. Aveni said many times that
includes low lighting where officers may not have been able
to tell the difference between a cell phone and a gun.
Investigators also have to understand how much the officer
knew about the victim -- if they were a violent gang member
or drug user or suffered from a mental illness.