The District Attorney’s Office reported Monday it had reviewed four recent shootings by law enforcement officers and two in-custody deaths and found the officers’ actions in each case were legally justified.
The incidents occurred in 2021 and 2022 and resulted in the deaths of five men and serious injuries to one. The district attorney’s report found that the shootings or deaths happened during investigations by officers from four local agencies: the San Diego, Harbor, Chula Vista and National City police departments.
In two of the shootings, people pointed guns or shot at the officers who then opened fire, officials said. The two other shootings occurred after the suspects approached officers armed with a knife or machete and ignored commands to drop their weapons, according to the review.
The two men who died in police custody either overdosed and were experiencing a medical emergency, the findings showed.
The district attorney said the officers will not be charged criminally.
Here, in chronological order, are the six incidents as described by police and the District Attorney’s Office:
Brian Umana, 28, was fatally shot Oct. 8, 2021, after National City Police Department officers received a report that a man armed with a sword was trying to break into a self-storage facility.
When two officers arrived on the scene, they located Umana standing on the 33rd Street sidewalk, just west of National City Boulevard. He was holding a machete at his side.
The officers commanded Umana to drop the machete, but he refused. The officers closed in on the man to use a Taser, getting within 15 feet of him.
The Taser was ineffective, and the man stepped toward the officers with the machete raised over his head, according to the investigation. The officers fired a handgun and rifle, striking Umana.
A toxicology report said Umana had methamphetamine and amphetamine in his system.
Eric Jesus Medina, 29, was wounded during a gunfight with officers in front of the San Diego Harbor Police Department on April 10, 2022.
Medina drove to the headquarters on North Harbor Drive and used a call box out front to ask a police dispatcher inside for help. When an officer walked out to help the man, Medina pointed a semi-automatic handgun at the officer, authorities said.
Believing Medina was going to shoot him, the officer fired his weapon at Medina, according to the district attorney’s findings. Two other officers quickly responded and opened fire on the gunman.
Medina was shot and eventually surrendered. He was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center with critical injuries.
Earlier this year, Medina was sentenced to nine years in state prison.
Denny Jalate, 23, died soon after San Diego police officers detained him on Oct. 9, 2022, at a home on 39th Street south of Thorn Street in City Heights.
The man’s family had called 911 after he threatened to kill his stepfather and had thrown bricks through a sliding door and car window at the house. When officers arrived at the house, they found Jalate was being restrained on the ground by his parents, according to the district attorney’s review.
Jalate had a weak pulse and was unresponsive, even as he was put into handcuffs, authorities said. Officers began to perform CPR and administered Narcan — a nasal spray used to reverse the symptoms of an opioid overdose.
Paramedics took Jalate to Scripps Mercy Hospital where he died. The Medical Examiner’s Office listed alcohol poisoning, cardiovascular disease and obesity as “significant contributing factors” in his death.
The district attorney found that officers had properly treated Jalate while he was in medical distress and awaiting an ambulance.
Derrick Weatherspoon, 33, was gunned down by San Diego police after he opened fire on officers outside of a Southcrest taco shop on Oct. 18, 2022.
On the night of the shooting, two officers responded to a report of a man with a gun at Humberto’s Taco Shop on South 43rd Street. As the officers arrived, Weatherspoon ran out of the restaurant and began firing at them, the investigation found.
The two officers got out of their patrol car and returned fire. Weatherspoon was shot multiple times, but he continued to fire at the officers.
Weatherspoon ran past the patrol car before he fell to the ground with the gun still in his hand. He died before he could be taken to a hospital.
The gunman later tested positive for alcohol, amphetamine, methamphetamine and cocaine.
Daniel Armenta, 35, died less than 30 minutes after police found him overdosing on methamphetamine and crawling on the street in City Heights.
On Dec. 8, 2022, witnesses reported seeing Armenta acting erratically and walking in the middle of El Cajon Boulevard, near 43rd Street, forcing vehicles in the area to swerve to avoid hitting him.
By the time officers arrived, Armenta had fallen to the ground in front of a gas station and was mumbling to himself. Officers called paramedics and supported the man as he got to his feet to walk over to a patrol car, according to investigators.
He collapsed before reaching the vehicle and became unresponsive. The officers administered two rounds of Narcan and performed CPR, but Armenta did not regain consciousness.
He died before he could be taken to a hospital.
Bradley Munroe, 32, was shot and killed after walking toward a Chula Vista police dog handler while holding a knife in a parking lot on Dec. 18, 2022.
On the night of the shooting, multiple callers reported a woman screaming for help and a man hitting her at a shopping center on Broadway near Oxford Street. According to the woman, who was later identified as Munroe’s mother, her son was mentally ill and trying to save her from her car, which he thought was going to explode.
When the officer arrived on the scene, he noticed Munroe was carrying a knife. Munroe refused to follow multiple commands from the officer to drop the knife and get on the ground. He began to approach the officer with the knife still in his hand.
After Munroe continued to ignore the officer’s orders and after a few more steps forward, the officer shot him, the investigation found.
Munroe died before he could be taken to a hospital, police said.
A toxicology report showed a number of drugs in his system at the time of the shooting, including amphetamine, meth, ephedrine, PCP and fentanyl.
