MARTINEZ — A 51-year-old Discovery Bay man was shot 10 times by five sheriff’s deputies and Oakley police officers as he walked toward them with an arrow-shooting rifle in his hands, according to testimony at a coroner’s inquest Friday.
Robert Steven Jones was struck in the chest, back, and shoulder and died of those injuries a short time later, according to the pathologist who performed his autopsy. Police say the injuries to his back were a result of Jones twisting as bullets struck him.
The March 22, 2022 incident was recounted on Friday by five law enforcement officials — three who were present, and two who investigated the aftermath of the shooting.
Coroner’s inquests are held for every law enforcement-involved fatality in Contra Costa, and juries are asked to classify each death. Typically the votes are unanimous, but Friday was far from it; of the 15 jurors, eight voted to rule Jones’ death a homicide, and seven voted for suicide.
Despite the narrow margin, homicide will stand as the official manner of death. The decision carries no criminal nor civil liability.
Jones was fatally shot around 9 p.m. on the 8000 block of Westport Circle in Discovery Bay. Police had been called there for a report that he’d shoved his wife and was acting erratically. When two deputies entered the home, he allegedly brandished a knife and picked up an air rifle that shoots arrows, a weapon used for hunting or archery. The officers testified they believed it was either a hunting rifle or shotgun at the time.
The two deputies retreated and set up a perimeter around the house, calling additional units, a police dog, a drone and a hostage negotiation team as backup. They said they were anticipating a lengthy standoff, but that Jones emerged from the home with the arrow gun and began walking toward several of the officers.
Contra Costa sheriff’s Sgt. Amanda Sears testified Friday that she fired three shots at Jones after becoming convinced he was going to shoot her or her colleagues. She remembered thinking, “This man is going to shoot us. It’s not an if, it’s a when.”
“I remember begging him, ‘sir, please don’t make me shoot you. I don’t want to shoot you, put the gun down,’” Sears testified, pausing briefly to collect herself as she spoke.
Oakley police Sgt. Kevin Morris, the only other officer who fired to testify Friday, said he fired five to six shots at Jones after hearing a gunshot and assuming that Jones had fired at Sears and sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Duke.
Duke, Sears, and Deputy Antonia Powell have been identified as the sheriff’s employees who fired at Jones, while Morris and Oakley police Officer Tyler Radcliffe were identified as the Oakley officers who fired. All told, 17 police rounds were fired within a matter of seconds, according to Contra Costa District Attorney Senior Inspector John Garcia.
Garcia testified Jones was about 50 feet away, and had taken about 15 steps toward the officers when they began firing. Danville police Detective Jay Melen, who at the time was an investigator with the sheriff’s department, testified Jones had confronted a security guard in the gated community earlier in the evening, and spoken to his wife about forming a vigilante group of neighbors over concerns that crime was rising in the area.
Both Morris, Sears, and a third deputy who was present but didn’t shoot Jones testified that he pointed the arrow rifle at officers several times during the encounter. Melen testified that after the shooting, Jones’ wife posted to Facebook that Jones, “never wanted to hurt anyone. He just was done and wanted an end.”
Melen also said there was something about Jones’ residence that stood out from those of his neighbors.
It was adorned with a “Thin Blue Line” flag and blue Christmas lights, to signal support for law enforcement.
Source: www.mercurynews.com