The District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that after reviewing five recent law enforcement shootings — four of them fatal — it determined the actions of the officers and deputies involved were legally justified.
The shootings occurred between February and November 2023 and involved five officers and one deputy from various departments around San Diego County. The shootings occurred during investigations of crimes, hostage situations and when the suspect threatened officers, the District Attorney’s Office said.
In four of the five instances, people pointed a gun or shot at law enforcement officers, resulting in a shootout. In at least one instance, an officer shot a suspect while the man was attempting to cut through a hostage’s neck, body-worn camera footage shows.
Perri Sammarco, 37, was fatally shot after officers were called to a Chula Vista apartment building on Feb. 4, 2023.
Officers had received reports that two homeless people were setting up camp in a stairwell. When they arrived, Sammarco then removed a blanket that was in front of him and revealed he was holding a knife to another man’s throat, officers said.
Hostage negotiators tried to get Sammarco to drop the knife, but he began cutting through the man’s throat, causing him to bleed. Chula Vista police Officer Alfonso Perdomo fired his rifle at the Sammarco, striking him in the head.
The hostage was uninjured. An autopsy later confirmed Sammarco had amphetamines, fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system at the time of shooting.
On April 21, 2023, in Fallbrook, Jorge Sandoval, 41, survived after he was shot while pointing a rifle at sheriff’s Deputy Cpl. Evan McCormick.
McCormick and another deputy responded to the scene after Sandoval’s wife said he was threatening to hurt himself inside the house.
Body-worn camera footage from the incident showed the deputies ordering Sandoval to drop a rifle in his hands. McCormick opened fire after Sandoval raised the rifle in the deputy’s direction, the video showed.
Narcotics were later found in Sandoval’s system.
He pleaded guilty to charges related to the confrontation, including two counts of threatening a police officer.
Mauricio Sanchez Ramos, 19, was shot and killed after he pointed a replica Glock handgun — later determined to be a BB gun — at San Diego officers around 9 p.m. June 4, 2023, at a San Ysidro trolley station.
The call reported that Sanchez Ramos was foaming at the mouth, holding a black gun and rocking back and forth on the trolley, the District Attorney’s Office said. When officers contacted the man, he began walking toward them and ignored their commands to drop the gun.
San Diego police Officer Ruben Berton then shot and killed Sanchez Ramos, officials said.
Sanchez Ramos’s mother, Olimpia Neal, later accused police of not de-escalating the situation and said her son suffered from schizophrenia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Autopsy results showed Sanchez Ramos had methamphetamine and amphetamines in his system. Prosecutors said in their report that the man “posed an imminent threat and that the use of deadly force was necessary to defend against that threat.”
In La Mesa, Jason Clark Hampton, 41, was shot and killed by Officer Brian Heller on Aug. 6, 2023, after Hampton tried to fire a handgun at Heller but the weapon jammed, police said.
Officers arrested Hampton on a felony warrant for burglary. Video from the incident showed a short exchange between Heller and Hampton before the man pulled a 9mm handgun on the officer. After the gun jammed, a chase ensued with Hampton still holding the gun.
The officer shot the gunman multiple times before he ran out of the complex.
“Hampton’s actions made it clear he intended to evade Officer Heller and that he was willing to shoot Heller in order to achieve that end,” the report reads.
In the final case, Douglas A. Quinn, 48, an Indiana parolee, was shot and killed during a shootout with Escondido police Officers Anthony Lay and Michael Statti on Nov. 3, 2023.
The officers had arrived at a mobile home park after a resident found a stranger sleeping on her front porch.
When they contacted Quinn, the officers learned the man had a felony warrant for his arrest. While speaking with Statti and Lay, the man pulled a 9mm gun from his rear waistband and shot at the officers.
The two officers then shot Quinn. After being wounded, Quinn continued to shoot at officers, and Statti returned fire.
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