Eight local law enforcement officers have been cleared of criminal liability in six separate police shootings, according to reviews released Friday by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.
The incidents date from 2020 to 2023, and happened in San Diego, Lakeside, and unincorporated El Cajon. Of the six shootings, three were fatal.
The shootings reviewed by prosecutors include:
— The June 14, 2020, non-fatal gunfire towards Dustin Banzhof in Lakeside.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to reports that night indicating Banzhof, 40, was armed and had threatened to kill his girlfriend.
Deputies located Banzhof in his vehicle and a pursuit ensued, leading to his residence.
According to the D.A.’s review, Banzhof fired multiple rifle rounds towards deputies, then drove his truck towards the deputies.
Sheriff’s deputy Andrew Sudbury fired two rounds at Banzhof, who drove back towards the house and refused to come out, the review states.
Later that night, he exited the house and a “less-lethal projectile” was fired at him, striking him in the leg, and he was arrested.
The D.A.’s review states Sudbury “reasonably believed that Banzhof posed an imminent threat and intended to cause death” when he drove his truck towards the deputies, along with his repeated firing of the rifle.
Banzhof later pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a peace officer with a semi-automatic firearm and one count of threatening a peace officer. He was sentenced to nine years in state prison.
— The July 7, 2022, non-fatal gunfire towards Maurice Littlejohn in Bay Terraces.
Police alleged Littlejohn, 43, entered a woman’s apartment uninvited and began groping her. Officers were called in response to the alleged sexual assault and an updated report that Littlejohn was fighting another man with a stick.
He was holding the stick when officers arrived, but refused to drop it, the D.A.’s review states.
Officers pointed Tasers at Littlejohn and attempted to place him under arrest. He responded by pulling out a knife and waving it at officers, according to the review.
One officer fired his Taser and Littlejohn fell to the ground, dropping the knife.
He then got up and started running at the officers, then pulled a black object out and pointed it while yelling “Boom, boom,” the D.A.’s Office said.
Thinking the object was a gun, San Diego police Officer Trevor Gallagher fired two shots at Littlejohn. Both shots missed Littlejohn, who was later arrested during a physical altercation with Gallagher and two other officers.
The D.A.’s Office concluded Gallagher “reasonably believed Littlejohn was pointing a firearm at him” and he was forced “to immediately address what he reasonably perceived as life threatening.”
Littlejohn later pleaded guilty to charges that included assault, burglary, and sexual assault, and was sentenced to 14 years to life in state prison.
— The Aug. 23, 2022, fatal shooting of Scholar Wang in Fairmount Park.
Officers responded to a report of a person saying their family member, Wang, had assaulted them at their Bridgeview Drive home. The assault involved Wang, 48, striking two elderly victims with a wooden stick, the D.A.’s Office said.
Wang had barricaded himself inside a bathroom in the home and was armed with a knife, hedge trimmers, and a metal bar, according to the D.A.’s review.
Attempts to get him to leave the bathroom, including by pepper spraying him, were unsuccessful.
Eventually, officers forced the bathroom door open and a police dog was sent in. Wang struck the dog with the metal rod and when San Diego police Officer Mitchel Tani approached to get control of the dog, the D.A.’s Office said Wang raised the rod and appeared prepared to strike Tani with it.
Tani then fired three times, killing Wang.
The D.A.’s review states that when the shots were fired, Tani “had to instantly confront and address” the imminent threat of death.
— The Jan. 17, 2023, fatal shooting of Frank Brower in unincorporated El Cajon.
Police say Brower, 77, fatally stabbed a woman in the College Area of San Diego and fled the scene. Officers responded to Brower’s home, where the D.A.’s review states Brower ignored commands to stop reaching into his vehicle.
While officers fired multiple beanbag rounds at Brower, he did not surrender and pulled a shotgun out of his vehicle. As he turned the gun towards law enforcement, San Diego police officers Salvador Laurel-Torres and Robert Raynor opened fire, striking Brower, the D.A.’s Office said.
The D.A.’s review states that when Brower turned the shotgun towards the officers, they “were in fear for their lives and the lives of other officers and deputies.”
— The Jan. 20, 2023, fatal shooting of Christopher De Arman near Chicano Park.
The D.A.’s Office says San Diego police officers Christopher Aguilar and Jacob Meyers pulled De Arman over during a traffic stop and discovered he had a prior arrest for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
When DeArman refused to get out of his vehicle, Aguilar opened the driver’s side door and De Arman started his truck, the D.A.’s review states.
Aguilar told De Arman to step out of the truck, but De Arman put the vehicle in drive, leading Aguilar to pepper spray De Arman in the face. De Arman then sped off and a chase ensued.
He eventually stopped the truck on Logan Avenue, got out, and pointed a handgun at the officers, the D.A.’s Office said.
Aguilar and Meyers opened fire and De Arman started shooting as well. He tried to run, but was shot, and later died of his injuries.
The D.A.’s Office concluded that due to his “sudden and violent actions,” the officers did not have a chance to deploy less-than-lethal means of subduing De Arman.
— The March 9, 2023, non-fatal shooting of Brenten Kinzenbaw in unincorporated El Cajon.
Kinzenbaw, 25, was found in a stolen truck on Oro Street by two law enforcement officers, including sheriff’s deputy Carlos Ramirez-Ochoa.
Kinzenbaw was told to get out of the truck, but instead started the truck and reversed it into Ramirez-Ochoa’s patrol vehicle, the D.A.’s Office said. He then drove forward towards Ramirez-Ochoa and the other officer, prompting the deputy to open fire.
Kinzenbaw crashed the truck a short distance away and ran, but was arrested in a shed in the backyard of a nearby home. He’d sustained a gunshot wound to the leg and other injuries sustained in the crash.
The D.A.’s review states Ramirez-Ochoa “was suddenly confronted with the unexpected and imminent threat of being run down by Kinzenbaw as Kinzenbaw drove the stolen truck toward him,” and thus, “reasonably believed” he was about to be struck by the vehicle.
