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HomeMy WebLinkAboutInt Ofc Mike Gibbons by Linn_Redacted SA-15-005 Investigator: BRUCE LINN #327 Approved By: Date of Report:3/13/2015 Date: 04/02/2015 Page 1 of 6 CASE NAME: OSORIO, BENITO CLASSIFICATION: OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTING (NON-FATAL) INTERVIEW OF: MIKE GIBBONS #2990, POLICE OFFICER PRESENT: JIM GARCIA #2409, DETECTIVE DATE AND TIME: MARCH 11, 2015 1840-1940 HOURS LOCATION: SANTA ANA POLICE DEPARTMENT On the above date and time, I conducted an audio digital recorded interview of Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) Officer MIKE GIBBONS in reference to the officer involved shooting incident involving BENITO OSORIO. GIBBONS provided his statement freely and voluntarily. The following is a summary of the interview: Officer GIBBONS is a 21 year law enforcement veteran. He was with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department from 1994-2005, and the Santa Ana Police Department since 2005. He is currently assigned to uniform patrol and has investigative experience in Auto Theft and Burglary. On the day of the shooting incident, GIBBONS was working patrol in full uniform driving a marked black and white police car. His shift was 0530-1800 hours. He heard a dispatched radio call in the 800 block of South Cypress Street; in the southeast district which he was assigned to. The call was an Assault with a Deadly Weapon in progress with mention of a subject being armed with a handgun; and that subject was being restrained. Officer GIBBONS was about a ½ mile away from the location of the call, and arrived quickly to the scene. As ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION INTERVIEW REPORT SA-15-005 Investigator: BRUCE LINN #327 Approved By: Date of Report:3/13/2015 Date: 04/02/2015 Page 2 of 6 GIBBONS turned southbound Cypress Street toward the location, dispatch radioed the suspect had just left the scene toward Main Street in a white truck. GIBBONS radioed he was continuing to the residence and requested the other responding units to go look for the white truck. No more than 30 seconds later, GIBBONS heard Officer JAMES BURWANGER, a motor officer, radio he had located a white pickup truck traveling northbound on Cypress Street. GIBBONS turned around and caught up to BURWANGER in what appeared to be a slow “Failure to Yield” of the white pickup truck. Now northbound Main Street, GIBBONS was a few car lengths behind BURWANGER and the white pickup truck. Two other marked patrol units were approaching from southbound Main Street, and those two units made a U-turn to assist. The white pickup truck stopped on Main Street. Officer GIBBONS was stopped, about in the middle of Main Street, facing northbound behind the white pickup truck; with two other units and Officer BURWANGER on his motorcycle to his right. Officer GIBBONS had his full rotating emergency light bar on. GIBBONS believed the unit to his right did as well. GIBBONS also heard sirens, but did not know from which vehicles. Officer BURWANGER had his siren on during the slow Failure to Yield. The white pickup trucked stopped in the #2 lane of northbound Main Street, which had just 2 lanes for north and southbound traffic. The stop was north of Chestnut Avenue and south of Pine Street. GIBBON’s unit was angled in a slightly northeastern direction. There was a grey pickup truck and a blue Subaru stopped in front of the white pickup. GIBBONS used his public address microphone to order those two civilian cars to leave the scene, which they did. SA-15-005 Investigator: BRUCE LINN #327 Approved By: Date of Report:3/13/2015 Date: 04/02/2015 Page 3 of 6 The white pickup was now completely stopped. Officer GIBBONS handled the bulk of the radio traffic at the stop. GIBBONS radioed he needed all southbound traffic blocked at Main Street and traffic blocked east and west at Pine Street. GIBBONS could not see a gun at this point, but he heard other officers yelling the suspect had a gun and had just chambered a round. GIBBONS heard Officer David Garcia yell, “Don’t do it. Drop the gun!” several times, repeatedly. Officer GARCIA was to GIBBON’s right and directly behind the white pickup. The driver’s window of the pickup was down. I showed GIBBONS’ a sketch of the scene on a piece of paper. He described the sketch as an accurate depiction of the incident. GIBBONS was in unit 899. SAPD Officer Nicole QUIJAS was to his right in unit 864. GIBBONS wrote in blue pen the names and placements of the other officers and marked units on scene he was aware of. He was focused to his right so he did not know who was to his left. He estimated the distance from his car to the pickup truck to be about 2 car lengths, about 30- 40 feet. GIBBONS was not sure who yelled out the suspect had just chambered a round, but it came from one of the officers to his right. GIBBONS could see the driver. It looked like the driver was moving around inside the truck. a bit. . He again heard officers yell, “Don’t do it!” Approximately 2 minutes went by, and then GIBBONS heard one faint pop. It did not sound loud and it was definitely a single shot which came from the direction of the white pickup. GIBBONS radioed shots were fired but not a 998/officer involved shooting; but SA-15-005 Investigator: BRUCE LINN #327 Approved By: Date of Report:3/13/2015 Date: 04/02/2015 Page 4 of 6 . GIBBONS could see the driver moving violently back and forward inside the truck. The driver’s foot smashed down on the accelerator as GIBBONS could hear the engine racing. The truck was either in park or neutral. GIBBONS radioed a request for medics to stage. The driver’s body movements slowed down. Officers began to approach the truck from the right side. GIBBONS ordered them back and yelled the driver was still moving. After a couple more minutes, the driver’s door opened. GIBBONS heard another officer yell had the gun in his hand. As the suspect began to exit the truck, GIBBONS saw the suspect’s left foot hit the ground. His upper body turned toward the left in the direction of GIBBONS. GIBBONS saw the suspect was holding a white iPhone in his right hand up to his right ear. The suspect fully exited the truck and now had both feet on the ground. As the suspect started to straighten up and stand, Officer GIBBONS could now see the suspect had a handgun in his left hand. GIBBONS could see the head and chest area of The suspect continued turning to his left still somewhat bent at the waist, but straightening up. The suspect was looking in the direction of the multiple uniformed officers and black and white marked police cars as he was exiting the truck and turning in their direction. GIBBONS heard the first officer’s shots coming from his left. GIBBONS believed those shots were from Officer JAMES SHIFFLETT. GIBBONS knew SHIFFLETT had a .223 caliber rifle. GIBBONS was armed with a Ruger .40 caliber Carbine. GIBBONS described Officer SHIFFLETT as having a better position to actually see the gun before Gibbon’s did. A fraction of a second after Gibbon’s heard SHIFFLETT’s shots; he heard several other officers’ rounds being SA-15-005 Investigator: BRUCE LINN #327 Approved By: Date of Report:3/13/2015 Date: 04/02/2015 Page 5 of 6 fired. GIBBONS saw blood spatter on the driver’s side of the truck. The suspect actually stood more upright after being shot. Officer GIBBONS said that when OSORIO exited the truck with the gun in his left hand the gun was pointed in the direction of Officers QUIJAS, DAVID GARCIA, WILLIAM SWEET, and ED DEMARCO. GIBBONS said the many commands given to the suspect were given in both English and Spanish. He described the commands as “put it down,” “come on out,” “it’s not worth it,” “don’t do it,” “put the gun down.” GIBBONS described the commands as an attempt to obtain compliance from the suspect. GIBBONS said the suspect was obviously already injured. GIBBON’s goal was to get the suspect to come out, avoid an officer involved shooting, and get medical aid. GIBBONS said the suspect slowly went down after being shot. Officer GIBBONS radioed for the fire department and also for pedestrian control. He described the gun as a small, stainless or nickel semi-automatic, and estimated it was larger than a .380 and thought it was possibly a 9mm. GIBBONS said the gun was first pointed at Officer SHIFFLETT. As the suspect turned to his left, the barrel of the gun was pointed at whoever was at unit 824, and then remained pointed at the other officers as the suspect turned to his left. GIBBONS said there were several videos of the incident captured by citizens. One of those citizens, , who was two cars behind the units, and had recorded the entire incident from beginning to end, volunteered his phone to Officer GIBBONS. GIBBONS turned the phone over to SAPD Detective CHUCK ELMS. SA-15-005 Investigator: BRUCE LINN #327 Approved By: Date of Report:3/13/2015 Date: 04/02/2015 Page 6 of 6 Officer GIBBONS wore no body worn camera and did not audio record the incident on any type of DAR, digital audio recorder. The sketch Officer GIBBONS wrote on is attached to this report.