LA County Autopsy Supports Witnesses Claim: Andres Guardado had No Gun & was on his Knees w/his Hands on his Head when Cop Shot him in the Back 5X. IG Says Sheriff is Ignoring Oversight Laws
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From [HERE] and [HERE] The Los Angeles County medical examiner confirmed that 18-year-old Andres Guardado, who was shot and killed by Southern California sheriff's deputies, was shot five times in the back, as his family had previously said.
Homicide investigators claimed the teenager was shot in the upper torso, however they did not specify where on the torso Guardado was hit.
The report listed Guardado's death as a homicide.
The release of the autopsy results caused a backlash among officials. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva had put a security hold on the report, but Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jonathan Lucas defied that order and released it anyway Friday evening.
"After careful thought and deliberation, I am releasing the autopsy report of Andres Guardado Pineda," Lucas said in a statement. "In doing so, I have given careful consideration to the major variables in this case -- supporting the administration of justice, as well as the public's right to know. I do not believe that these are mutually exclusive ideals."
Villanueva criticized the move, which he called "unprecedented." The sheriff said the release had the potential to jeopardize the case.
"This move will now force the Sheriff's Department to use court orders to enforce security holds that exist for only one purpose -- to prevent tainting witness testimony prior to interviews," Villanueva said.
Police claim Guardado was shot and killed after two Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies said they saw him wielding a gun in front of a business and led them on a foot chase. "Guardado reportedly looked toward the deputies, produced a handgun and ran south down the driveway of the business at the location," Capt. Kent Wegener, head of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau said at a press conference in late June.
He said the deputies chased Guardado on foot and one of them fired six shots at the teenager, hitting him in the torso. Wegener did not specify where on the torso he was hit. Guardado was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
When asked if Guardado pointed the gun at deputies, Wegener said that "remains to be seen" because they don't have video of the actual shooting. [MORE]
AFTER THE SHOOTING COPS REMOVED CAMERAS AND SNATCHED VIDEOS AND THEN CAME BACK WITH A WARRANT. NATURALLY, NOW THEY CLAIM NOTHING WAS ON THE VIDEO AND EXPECT PEOPLE TO BELIEVE THEM. THIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF DUE PROCESS, NO PROCESS BEFORE DEPRIVATION OF RIGHTS AND PROPERTY.
Inspector General Max Huntsman sent a letter to Villanueva on June 22 to request documents and video recovered in the investigation but have received no response.
"I ask you to provide us the items requested immediately," Huntsman wrote.
Huntsman also indicated that his office has offered to participate in interviews and assist in outreach to witnesses who are "reluctant to cooperate with the sheriff's department." He said that “the Sheriff’s Department has failed to follow transparency and oversight laws. We have state law and county codes that require cooperation with the Inspector General to monitor shooting investigations and they refuse to follow that.” See video above.
Guardado's family claimed that at the time he was shot, he was working as an informal security guard for an auto body shop in an unincorporated section of Gardena, California, near where he was shot to death on June 18.
The police claims are also disputed by witnesses who say Guardado had no gun and was on his knees with his hands on his head when he was shot in the back. This is now confirmed by the autopsy.
Andrew Heney, owner of the Freeway autoshop where Guardado worked, said the teen became frightened when deputies pulled up on him with guns drawn for no reason and so he ran.
“The police came up, and they pulled their guns on him and he ran because he was scared, and they shot and killed him. He’s got a clean background and everything. There’s no reason,” he said.
According to FTP after they killed him, police then destroyed all the cameras that may have caught the interaction before stealing the DVR from the repair shop. Then, as they promised “transparency,” they blocked the results of the autopsy from the family — so the family had their own autopsy performed.
Capt. Kent Wegener, the head of the department’s Homicide Bureau, told ABC7 that investigators have taken six or seven exterior cameras from the scene, claiming two of the cameras were missing their memory cards.
A search warrant was obtained to gain access to any “web-based video or security footage from the third-party vendor who supplies the service at the scene,” Wegener said.
However, Heney disputes this claim and said police “got the warrant after they took the cameras.”
“This is the first camera they yanked off the wall,” Heney said pointing towards one of the broken devices in an interview posted on Twitter. “They broke it off and took it right off the wall,” he said as he pointed out another.
“They were just trying to be malicious and covering themselves,” he said.
“They illegally got into everything, then they had the place locked down and then they got the warrant,” he said.
The owner of one of the businesses at that address, Street Dynamic Autobody, told LAist that deputies broke surveillance cameras after the shooting. The man, who would only identify himself as "Slavin," also said deputies did not have a search warrant to take his video footage. [MORE]
Nevertheless, Cmdr. Chris Marks, who oversees the sheriff's Detective Division Headquarters, said cameras seized at the scene did not contain any video recording of the shooting.[UH,HUH]
Neither deputy involved were wearing body cameras because, Villanueva said, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have not provided funds for him to equip all officers in his department with the equipment.
The names of all the deputies involved in the incident have not been released because the names of the public servants is a secret. Attorneys have said the officer who him was Deputy Miguel Vega.
At attorney for Vega, the unknown deputy who fired the shots, told the Los Angeles Times in a statement on Wednesday that Guardado ignored multiple commands to stop while he was running from the deputies, and that Guardado pulled out a gun during the chase. Attorney Adam Marangell said Guardado eventually turned around and raised both arms, still holding the weapon. Under orders from Vega, Guardado put the firearm down then got on the ground, face-down, but the gun was still near his right hand, the attorney told The Times.
According to Marangell, Vega holstered his weapon and approached Guaradado to put him in handcuffs, warning him, "Don't reach for the gun." But Guardado reached for the gun near his hand, prompting Vega to open fire, Marangell said.
The attorney told The Times that the findings of the family's autopsy "do not alter in any way the ultimate fact that Deputy Vega acted properly and lawfully." [MORE]
Tom Yu, an attorney for the second deputy, Hernandez, told The Times his client saw Guardado pull out a weapon while running and eventually saw him start to get on the ground under orders from Vega. When the shots rang out, Hernandez had only a partial view of Guardado, Yu said.
The autopsy showed that in addition to the shots to the back, Guardado was hit with two graze wounds on his forearms. The autopsy revealed Guardado had no drugs or alcohol in his system.
Guardado's sister, Jennifer Guardado, 22, said the gun found at the scene of the shooting did not belong to her brother. She also described the shooting as a "cowardly move" by deputies.
"He couldn't even see the person that was going to shoot him," Jennifer Guardado said at a vigil held for her brother near the scene of the killing.
His death prompted Congresswomen Nanette Diaz Barragan and Maxine Waters, both Southern California Democrats, to call on state Attorney General Xavier Becerra to conduct a full investigation into the shooting.
"Andres Guardado is the latest young man of color killed by police gunfire," Barragan and Waters said in their statement. "There must be full transparency so the public can trust the investigation and we know we are getting the truth." [MORE]
