MARTINEZ — Six police officers who fired their guns when Richmond and Oakland police shot and killed a man two years ago in Richmond showed reasonable action and will not be charged with any wrongdoing, authorities said Friday.
Five Oakland police officers and one from Richmond shot at Juan Carlos Ayon-Barraza, 24, of Vallejo, after he had been reported to have attacked a woman and dumped her in the East Bay hills two years ago. Barraza was fatally wounded in the gunfire. The woman died weeks later.
Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton announced the decision in a statement after the office conducted its own investigation into the shooting, per protocol. Prosecutors have the burden of proving a death at the hands of police is not justified.
Richmond police Ofc. Joe DeOrian fired more than one shot at Barraza, authorities said. Oakland police Ofc. Michael Finnicum, Ofc. Benjamimn Sarno, Ofc. Kyle Gaskin, Ofc. Robert Recendez, and Ofc. Matthew Hohn all fired at least one shot, authorities said.
It all happened on April 16, 2020, starting about 6:45 p.m. Authoriites said a bicyclist saw Ayon-Barraza trying to push Thomas over the edge of the roadway while she was wrapped in a blanket or towels near the unincorporated town of Canyon near the border of Contra Costa and Alameda counties. It ended about 7:30 p.m. at South 37th Street and Stege Avenue in Richmond, where officers fired the fatal shots.
Before they did, authorities said Ayon-Barraza also rammed the van he drove into a patrol car, causing one officer to be hit by the van and the other to be trapped inside his vehicle. Both recovered.
The ramming of the patrol vehicle and the shooting were captured on police video footage.
“In a legal analysis of the case, the District Attorney’s Office applied the applicable laws, and the California District Attorney’s Uniform Crime Charging Standards to review the evidence of the incident,” Becton said in her statement. “The concluding opinion determined the use of deadly force by the peace officers against (Ayon-Barraza) was reasonable based on the totality of the circumstances.”
Oakland police officers had pursued Ayon-Barraza after the bicyclist spotted him dumping badly injured 29-year-old Tamisha Thomas.
Authorities said Ayon-Barraza attacked and kidnapped Thomas from Vallejo earlier that day. Thomas’ family earlier had contacted police to file a missing persons report on her, police said. In it, the family said Thomas last had been seen with Ayon-Barraza.
When a family member later confronted him about the disappearance, authorities said Ayon-Barraza said “something bad” had happened to her. He then took off in a vehicle, authorities said.
After the bicyclist called 911, Oakland police officers soon spotted Ayon-Barraza in a car near the junction of Highways 13 and 24, heading toward Interstate 580. They pursued him through Oakland city streets, back onto Interstate 580 and eventually into Richmond.
Thomas initially survived her injuries but died in an Oakland hospital more than a month later. She left behind a young son.
Ayon-Barraza had a history of domestic violence arrests, including a case in Contra Costa County where he allegedly held a knife to a woman’s throat while demanding a sex act in the same room where her children were sleeping. He accepted a plea deal to a lesser offense in that case, but had an active arrest warrant for failing to complete domestic violence classes at the time of his death.
Source: www.mercurynews.com