Seventeen local law enforcement officers have been cleared of criminal liability in five fatal police shootings and three in- custody deaths, according to reviews released Friday by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.
The incidents date from May 2024 through January 2025 and occurred in San Diego, El Cajon, National City, Lakeside and Oceanside.
The incidents involved San Diego County sheriff’s deputies, as well as police officers from San Diego, El Cajon and Oceanside.
The deaths reviewed by prosecutors include:
Jan. 13, 2025, shooting of Andrew Engel, 26, in East Village
Police responded after Engel’s roommate and friends found him in a bathtub at his apartment with his wrists slit.
When San Diego Police Officers Gavin Isa and Eric Moreno entered the apartment, Engel approached Moreno while holding a knife, the District Attorney’s Office’s review states.
Citing body-worn camera footage, the D.A.’s review states Moreno tells Engel, “Andrew! Hey, hey, hey! San Diego Police! Stop!” but Engel “continues to charge at Moreno while holding the knife raised above his head.”
Moreno fired two shots, striking Engel, who momentarily stopped, then continued advancing with the knife raised, prompting Moreno to fire four more shots, the D.A.’s review said.
After hearing the initial shots, Isa entered the room and also opened fire. Engel later died at a hospital.
The D.A.’s review states “Engel’s rapid actions posed an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to Moreno, and when Moreno and Isa used deadly force on Engel, they did so to instantly confront and address that imminent threat.”
Last summer, Engel’s family filed a claim, which is a precursor to a lawsuit, which alleged the officers used unreasonable force on an injured man who was in the throes of a mental health crisis.
Oct. 2, 2024, shooting of Brian Maloney, 41, on Fiesta Island
The D.A.’s Office said off-duty San Diego Community College District Police Officer Victor Bocaya had taken his dogs for a walk, but while removing his pets from his vehicle, Maloney began angrily shouting at him.
Bocaya pulled out his badge and identified himself as an officer, to which Maloney said he’d been harassed by police before.
Bocaya said he was going to call the police, after which Maloney lunged at Bocaya and “repeatedly stabbed him in the neck and upper torso,” the D.A.’s review said.
Bocaya then produced a handgun and shot Maloney once, causing a mortal wound that led to Maloney’s death later at a hospital.
Bocaya sustained four stab wounds to his neck, one to his chest and one to his back, which left him with a punctured lung and fractured ribs, according to the D.A.’s review, which states Bocaya “was faced with the imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death and reasonably feared for his life” when he opened fire.
Dec. 11, 2024, shooting of Andrea Grube, 24, in El Cajon
The D.A.’s Office says Grube drove a pickup truck into the El Cajon Police Department’s parking lot and accelerated toward a group of officers just before 12:30 p.m.
Sgt. Kevin Maxwell was struck by the truck and sent to the ground, the D.A.’s review said.
El Cajon Police Officer Evan Drescher then exiting the police department and both he and Maxwell ordered Grube to stop and get out of the truck.
Grube accelerated again towards Maxwell, prompting him to fire into the truck’s windshield, and Drescher to also open fire on the truck. The truck then crashed into a tree, and Drescher opened fire again upon seeing Grube “move around and manipulate items” inside the truck, the D.A.’s review states.
Grube, who had been shot multiple times, was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.
The D.A.’s review states, “Grube’s rapid and unpredictable use of the truck as a lethal instrument did not allow the officers sufficient time or distance to utilize less-than-lethal options.”
Sept. 27, 2024, shooting of Gene Stewart, 46, in National City
The D.A.’s Office said that during an undercover police investigation into drug trafficking, sheriff’s deputy Doug Akers spotted a vehicle that was driving slowly through a shopping center parking lot in a manner that led him to believe the three people inside the car were potentially involved in criminal activity.
When another deputy tried to conduct a traffic stop, Stewart got out of the vehicle and ran.
Akers and other deputies gave chase and a passerby pointed out that Stewart was hiding in the cab of a parked tow truck in the parking lot of a car dealership.
When Akers ordered Stewart out of the truck, Stewart pulled out a handgun and fire one round through a window at Akers, the D.A.’s review states.
Akers then returned fire, after which Stewart “quickly opened the door and got out of the truck to face Akers.”
Believing Akers was going to shoot again, Akers opened fire, striking Stewart, who died at the scene, the D.A.’s review states.
The D.A.’s Office said Akers fired first in response to Stewart’s initial gunfire, then fired again while in fear of being shot after Stewart burst from the truck.
May 20, 2024, shooting of Nicholas Trammell, 33, in Morena
Officers responded to a 911 call from the owner of the Morena Market, who said Trammell had stolen items and brandished a knife.
Responding officers found Trammell less than a quarter-mile away in an apartment complex parking lot and tried to detain him.
Trammell then pulled out a knife and a pair of scissors, prompting officers to deploy their tasers, but they missed him, the D.A.’s review states.
Trammell then fled the scene, grabbed a bystander and put a knife to the man’s neck, the D.A.’s Office states.
San Diego police officers Matthew Steinbach, Michael Howells and Justin Tellam opened fire, killing Trammell.
The D.A.’s review states the officers “discharged their handguns under the reasonable belief that the use of deadly force was necessary to defend against that imminent threat.”
Aug. 14, 2024 in-custody death of Angela Camacho, 51
Sheriff’s deputies responded just before 2 a.m. for an altercation at a shopping center, in which a 911 caller described a woman pepper spraying another woman.
Responding deputies encountered Camacho who “was yelling and wailing,” then ran from the deputies, the D.A.’s review states.
She ran towards a 7-Eleven within the shopping center, though deputies ordered her to stop.
Camacho was pulled into a seated position and handcuffed but “continued to physically struggle,” the D.A.’s Office said. A WRAP restraint device was then placed on her.
When deputies moved her back into a seated position, they “noticed she had become quiet” and were unable to find a pulse.
CPR was administered and Camacho regained a pulse and was hospitalized, but at the hospital, she went into cardiac arrest and suffered a severe anoxic brain injury, according to the D.A.’s review.
She was ultimately placed on a ventilator, but never regained consciousness and died just over a month later.
A deputy medical examiner determined her cause of death to be “anoxic- ischemic encephalopathy due to resuscitated cardiopulmonary arrest during law enforcement restraint and methamphetamine intoxication,” according to the D.A.’s review, which said cardiovascular disease and obesity were also contributing factors.
Five deputies were involved in the incident.
The D.A.’s Office concluded that “due to the degree of physical resistance Camacho was exhibiting,” the methods employed by the deputies “were reasonable under these circumstances.”
Oct. 8, 2024, death of Emmanuel Avilez-Acosta, 26
Avilez-Acosta’s aunt called 911 and reported her nephew had cut himself and was bleeding inside a bathroom at her home.
Oceanside Police Officer Israel Doroteo responded and found Avilez- Acosta in the bathroom with a large kitchen knife.
Avilez-Acosta was placed in an ambulance for transport to a hospital and during the transport, Doroteo followed the ambulance in his patrol car.
While in the ambulance, Avilez-Acosta “became combative with the medics and he attempted further self-harm by grabbing at his own injuries,” causing the ambulance and Doroteo to pull over, the D.A.’s review states.
Avilez-Acosta was hanging off the gurney, so Doroteo guided his raised legs onto the gurney “with minimal pressure,” while medics “applied soft restraints to safely secure him to the gurney.”
Avilez-Acosta later died at a hospital, and a deputy medical examiner ruled his death was a suicide from multiple sharp force injuries.
The D.A.’s review cites the medical examiner’s findings that Doroteo’s actions were not referenced as a contributed factor in the death.
Jan. 25, 2025, death of Gabriel Garza, 40, in downtown San Diego
Garza was removed by bar security from Star Bar for what sheriff’s officials described as a “disturbance” in which Garza allegedly bit a security guard. He was restrained by the guard, as well as two others until police arrived.
San Diego Police Officer Jacob Phipps arrived on scene first and handcuffed Garza, the D.A.’s review states. Officer Noah McLemore then arrived and held Garza’s legs down because they were “actively moving about.” He was then taken to a hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest, had no pulse, and later died.
The D.A.’s review states an autopsy found his death was “cardiopulmonary arrest due to atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease with ethanol and cocaine intoxication during physical restraint.” The manner of death was determined to be homicide.
Garza’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit last year that alleged Phipps held Garza down on his stomach, while both officers were faulted for allegedly failing to check if he was able to breathe properly or take his pulse.
The D.A.’s review states the officers “had an obligation to detain Garza” because he’d bitten someone and had been fighting with security. The review states that after he “continued to roll around and kick, officers were within their right to use reasonable force to restrain him” in order to prevent him from injuring himself, bystanders or the officers.
