Fatal officer-involved shootings in Salinas
July 26, 2013: Police shot and killed Juan Luis Acuna, 30, after he apparently fired at officers in a parking lot following a chase. Officers said at the time that Acuna was spotted running with a handgun and ignored police commands to stop. Wielding two guns, he shot at an officer and brandished his weapons at police.
March 21, 2014: Officers shot and killed 42-year-old Angel Francisco Ruiz at the Creekbridge shopping center off Constitution Boulevard. Officers initially responded to a report of a suspicious person in the parking lot with a gun. They say they feared he would shoot at them. The gun turned out to be a pellet gun. He also was the suspect in a recent hit-and-run on a CHP officer.
May 9, 2014: Officers shot and killed Osman Hernandez outside the Mi Puebla store on East Alisal after responding to reports of a man waving a knife. Investigators say he brandished his knife at officers and they feared he would attack them. Prior to shooting him, they used a stun gun on him but officers said it didn’t work.
May 20, 2014: Officers responded to reports of a man trying to break into a woman’s house and exposing himself to her. When officers arrived, he had a large pair of garden shears, which they say he was brandishing at them. Officers tried using a stun gun on Carlos Mejia unsuccessfully, and eventually shot and killed him.
July 10, 2014: Frank Alvarado, 39, was shot and killed in an early morning altercation with police. Officers had responded to reports that Alvarado had broken into his grandfather’s home and set fire to part of it using a butane torch. Alvarado had left the house and was hiding behind a car. He ignored orders from police in both English and Spanish to surrender. At one point, he lunged toward officers with an object in his hand that officers believed might have been a weapon and yelled an expletive at them. The object turned out to be a cellphone.
