If the most recent Fullerton police killing, of Jose Naranjo Cortez, was reminiscent of the 2011 killing of Kelly Thomas (homeless guy beaten and suffocated to death by a pile of Fullerton cops), the one before THAT, the fatal FPD shooting of Pedro Garcia last March, was more reminiscent of the fatal 2020 FPD shooting of Hector Hernandez. Same part of town, same younger family member calling cops for help due to a family fight turning violent, same confused scene out in the front yard with a dozen cops yelling out orders to a distraught, semi-compliant suspect ending with fatal gunshots.
Last March 15, a little before midnight, Pedro Garcia’s little brother called the FPD from a backyard family party, worried because 19-year old Pedro, drunk and angry, had “swung a knife” toward his stepdad’s face (which the stepdad was able to duck away from.) The cops showed up quick – brother was still on the phone! When they got there one cop reported an “active 415 in the backyard,” the FPD translating “415” as “disturbance” in their video.
The little brother came out, and begged the police not to shoot Pedro. Soon, out came Pedro, and within less than a minute there were “shots fired” and “998” translated as “officer-involved shooting.” In fact over thirty shots were fired by the police, and 26 of them hit Pedro. And immediately “415 Family” was reported, now translated as “uncooperative.” “We got about 20 family members that are 415” – wow, that is a lot of uncooperative family members – but what can you expect after 30+ gunshots! Well, what went wrong?
The family and other witnesses claimed Pedro had his hands up when he was blown away – the police say he did not. The police also reported that he had a pellet gun in his waistband, which he had “reached for,” before they began firing, and that they “recovered” the pellet gun, which resembled an actual Smith and Wesson, from a nearby bush. The family and other witnesses, unaware of any pellet gun, thought it was planted, and wanted it tested for DNA. Things like that do happen. But then the “Critical Incident Report” video came out, and it was hard to argue with:
12 minutes into the video we see Pedro’s last walk, out of the back yard and up the street, from two cops’ vantage point. He’s having a fit, alternating between sobbing and yelling “I don’t give a fuck!” He’s holding his phone in his left hand and looking at it off and on. Why did the narrator, Sgt O’Neil, claim that Pedro wouldn’t take his hands out of his pockets or make his hands visible? That’s not true at all. A few times he puts his hands up as instructed and then lowers them as though exhausted or despondent, but his hands were NOT hidden in the video we see.
The cop identified as unit 414 keeps telling Pedro to raise his hands and turn around, “I don’t want you to get hurt!” “I don’t want to get hurt either,” sobs Pedro, “I just want to [unintelligible.]” Then he looks at his phone again.
Another cop, a little behind 414, is worried about crossfire. He tells Pedro’s family to “Stay the fuck back, stay over there!” One family member tells the cop that Pedro no longer has the knife: “He doesn’t have anything, he’s chilling, he’s on his phone!” “I hear you, I hear you. Now stay over there. I hear you, I hear you.” One cop has “less than lethal” prepared, and the K9 guy, not to be outdone, yells at Pedro, “Get on the ground or I’ll send my dog!”
Then comes the fateful moment, which I had to watch a few times. At 13:22 (and 15:18) Pedro reaches his right hand under his t-shirt and pulls out what looks like a real gun but turned out to be a pellet gun (his family apparently didn’t know he had that) and the police bullets fly.
But here’s the thing – not that it helps him any, but you can see he pulled out the gun to toss it into the bush – because that’s what he did right before all the bullets hit him. Apparently that seemed like a good idea to him in that condition. For what it’s worth, we know now that he wasn’t trying to shoot any cops or anyone else.
Of course the bullets flew the moment the police saw that gun with Pedro’s hand on it. But 32 of them (26 of which hit Pedro), was that necessary? He went down immediately and they fired for 5 more seconds. Three cops fired, two with handguns, one with an automatic rifle (and a fourth one with “less-than-lethal” sponge rounds, which seem to always be included for dark ironic effect or something.) When I lamented to a friend that they fired so many more shots than necessary, he pointed out, “Well, even one shot from the automatic rifle woulda killed him anyway.”
So that’s the story of Pedro Garcia’s last day. His family and friends remember him as an unusually caring person who was always trying to help others – his mom Gabriela brings food to the local schools and Pedro was always telling her, “I know a family that needs a box right now.” He was especially protective of his little sister who was bullied because of her scoliosis. His teachers and principal from Fullerton HS remember what a sweet kid he was and are devastated. He was trying hard to become independent, and hated to be a “burden” on his family, and could only find part-time work and occasional construction work with his stepdad. But he was only 19!
Next, in our series of the three latest FPD killings, we’ll tell the story of Alejandro Campos Rios, killed by “non-lethal” projectiles out in front of a Fullerton McDonald’s last year.
ouch ….
Wow that’s alot of shots