SAN DIEGO—20-year-old Kevin Garcia Gonzales was sitting in a car parked in front of a church three weeks ago when five San Diego police officers fired two dozen rounds into the car, killing him. A pellet gun was discovered in the vehicle.
The San Diego Police Department released video footage of the shooting Friday. The entire interaction between Gonzalez and the officers played out on YouTube. Gonzalez’s empty hands could be seen several tumes through the driver’s side window during the interaction.
Gonzalez was speaking Spanish—reportedly telling officers he refused to get out of the car because his daughter was about to be born and he didn’t want to miss it. He said they’d have to kill him before he would go.
One has to wonder if the current state of the country—with ICE agents arresting and deporting people—had any impact on his thinking. Reports of innocent men sent to a gulag in a foreign country would most certainly cause fear and anxiety in immigrant communities.
At this point he had not done anything wrong and police hadn’t accused him of any crime.
Mahmoud Khalil’s wife was 8 months pregnant when he was taken to Louisiana. The detention center refused to let him attend the birth of his baby last week.
The shooting occurred three weeks ago, but the fear was already rippling through communities by then. It’s hard to imagine concerns of being deportated had nothing to do with his decision not to leave the car–especially when he was worried about missing the birth of his daughter. Sitting in a car, surrounded by police officers with guns pointed at you would be terrifying.
After Gonzalez refused to exit the vehicle, an officer discharged a pepper-ball shotgun into the car, causing Gonzalez to duck. An officer shouted, asking what was in his hand, prompting all five officers to start shooting.
The Times of San Diego:
Detectives later discovered Gonzalez’s weapon, which resembled a real revolver, police said, but turned out to be a pellet gun.
A roadside video surveillance system and body-worn cameras captured images of the shooting and the confrontation that preceded it. The San Diego Police Department posted an edited version of the footage on YouTube.
A motorist pulled up alongside a police sergeant’s cruiser at about 10 a.m. April 4 and reported that a man had flashed a handgun at him in the area roughly 20 minutes earlier. The witness said the suspect had been standing next to a parked Ford Fusion, according to police.
The roadside video captured those images, although a gun cannot be seen, and the arrival of police.
When the sergeant pulled to a stop behind the Fusion a short time later, got out and approached the car with his gun drawn, ordering Gonzalez to show his hands. He allegedly failed to comply, and the sergeant retreated to await backup.
By the time reinforcements arrived, a woman was standing next to the passenger side of the Fusion and officers ordered her to put her hands up, as shown in the body-worn footage. She did so, and the personnel detained her and moved her away from the parked car.
Officers proceeded to spend about 40 minutes trying to persuade Gonzalez to disarm himself and surrender. He refused, according to police, and said in Spanish that he did not want to go to jail again. He added that his daughter was going to be born soon, and told the officers they would have to kill him to get him in custody.
At times, however, he held out one or both hands, empty, from the driver’s-side window of the Fusion.
Police decided to use a pepper-ball shotgun to try to incapacitate the suspect. In the moment before an officer discharged the projectiles, another asked, “What’s he got in his hand?”
The shooting commenced almost immediately after wisps of tear gas can be seen inside the Fusion. Enhanced footage, police contend, shows that Gonzalez ducked when the projectile entered, then sat up and raised the BB gun, prompting gunfire from officers positioned behind a vehicle across the street from the Fusion.
Following the gunshots, officers pulled Gonzalez from the Ford. Paramedics took him to a hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
Those from SDPD who discharged their weapons have been identified as Sergeant Edward Laurendeau, and officers Diego Arellanes, Ruben Berton, Fernando Fernandez, Michael Hagen and Zane Sisneros.
Homicide detectives from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the case as part of a countywide agreement to prevent conflicts of interest in probes of officer-involved shootings.
Author: Serena Zehlius, Editor
Serena Zehlius is a passionate writer and political commentator with a knack for blending humor and satire into her insights on news, politics, and social issues. Serena spent over a decade in the veterinary field as a devoted veterinary assistant and pet sitting business owner. Her love for animals is matched only by her commitment to human rights and progressive values. When she’s not writing about politics, you can find her exploring nature or advocating for a better world for both people and pets.
This article was originally published on the Times of San Diego website and republished here under a Creative Commons 4.0 license. See our third party content disclaimer
