Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 04/17/2009

Contact person(s):

Media Coordinator, Terry Menshek - (707) 565-3099 Media Spokesperson, Chief District Attorney Spencer Brady

Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California

OFFICERS LEGALLY JUSTIFIED IN USE OF DEADLY FORCE WHEN FIRED UPON BY WANTED PAROLEE

District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua announced today that his office has completed its review of the investigation into the May 4, 2007, shooting death of Luis Felipe Sanchez. Mr. Sanchez, a wanted parolee, fired a shot and struck a Sonoma County Sheriff's deputy in the chest at point blank range with a 9 mm handgun when he and other Sheriff's deputies arrived at a Rohnert Park residence to serve Sanchez with a parole violation warrant. Deputies returned fire, killing Sanchez. Immediately after the incident, the Sheriff's Department invoked the county-wide Officer-Involved Fatal Incident Protocol. The Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety was designated the lead law enforcement agency tasked to investigate the shooting, and the Petaluma Police Department also provided assistance. The Sonoma County District Attorney's Office personnel responded to the scene, monitored and assisted the investigation, and conducted the legal review. After carefully reviewing all of the evidence, the District Attorney has concluded that the involved Sheriff's deputies acted in lawful self-defense and defense of others when using lethal force against Sanchez.

District Attorney Passalacqua stated: "These law enforcement officers were simply doing their jobs by serving a warrant on a known parolee. After repeatedly announcing their presence and identifying themselves, Mr. Sanchez, who had been hiding inside the residence, opened fire at point-blank range with a semi-automatic handgun, striking a Sheriff's deputy in the chest. A protective vest saved the deputy’s life. All deputies who fired on Mr. Sanchez at that moment were defending themselves and others who were present. Their actions were completely justified."

On January 6, 2004, Mr. Sanchez was sentenced to serve four years and eight months in the California Department of Corrections after felony convictions for possessing controlled substances with intent to sell and for evading police. Witnesses stated the Mr. Sanchez bragged about dealing large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine. Mr. Sanchez was also an affiliate of a well-known criminal street gang. He was paroled from state prison on December 2, 2006, and subsequently deported. He later re-entered the United States.

On May 2, 2007, Sheriff's deputies learned that a warrant for his arrest had been issued. They decided to locate Mr. Sanchez and serve the warrant on the morning of May 4, 2007. They developed information that Mr. Sanchez may have been staying at a mobile home park in Rohnert Park. Deputies spoke with the owner of the residence and confirmed that Mr. Sanchez had stayed at the residence in the recent past.

When deputies arrived at the mobile home park, they located Mr. Sanchez' vehicle parked in front of a residence. Uniformed deputies knocked loudly on the door for over five minutes while announcing their presence and identities as law enforcement officers. Deputies entered the residence with the permission of the owner, who was not present at the scene. They loudly announced "Sheriff's Department, Sheriff's Department" as they entered. At that time Mr. Sanchez was crouched down, hiding in a closet near the front door. As soon as one of the deputies saw him in the closet, Mr. Sanchez fired his weapon at point blank range, hitting the deputy in the chest. Sanchez emerged from the doorway of the trailer with the gun in his hand, moving toward the deputy he had just shot. The deputy retreated as Mr. Sanchez advanced on him. Three deputies, including the one who had been shot, fired at Mr. Sanchez in immediate response to the shot fired by Mr. Sanchez.

The three Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputies involved in this incident acted reasonably when they shot at Luis Felipe Sanchez. They reasonably believed that he was armed, that he was using lethal force against them, and that he was going to continue to shoot at them or others in an attempt to avoid being lawfully arrested pursuant to an arrest warrant. Each of these three deputies fired their weapons in lawful self defense and defense of others at the scene.

The investigation and subsequent review of this matter by the District Attorney was delayed somewhat due to extensive forensic analysis conducted by the Department of Justice. It was determined that Mr. Sanchez was struck multiple times by rounds fired by Sheriff's deputies. However, based on all of the available ballistic evidence, it could not be conclusively determined which of the deputies' shots actually struck Mr. Sanchez.

Mr. Sanchez did not die at the scene. Medical personnel arrived on scene and transported Mr. Sanchez to Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa, where he was pronounced dead. A subsequent autopsy found the cause of death to be multiple gunshot wounds. His blood tested positive for .08 mg/L of Benzoylecgonine, an active metabolite of cocaine. Although Mr. Sanchez' blood did not actually contain cocaine, according to the forensic pathologist, the presence of the metabolite suggests that he had recently ingested cocaine.

After the incident a search warrant was obtained for the trailer in which Mr. Sanchez had been hiding. During execution of the warrant, Petaluma Police Detectives located 99.8 grams of suspected heroin, 45.5 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 9.9 grams of suspected cocaine, and over a pound-and-a-half of suspected marijuana. Detectives also located $16,229.00 in cash, several scales used for measuring the drugs, and a "pay and owe" sheet describing recent drug sales activity.