CAMPBELL — A police sergeant has been cleared of legal legal responsibility for fatally taking pictures a person wrestling with one other officer for a gun throughout a home violence name at a Campbell house final 12 months, the Santa Clara County District Lawyer’s Workplace introduced Friday.
The person who died, 31-year-old Miguel Gomez, fired a shot from his 9mm semiautomatic handgun at officers in the midst of the lounge as he was scuffling with Officer Stevie Munoz, prompting Sgt. Najib Magee to shoot Gomez 3 times at shut vary within the early morning hours of March 19, 2024.
The district lawyer’s workplace outlined its choice to not file any prices in opposition to Magee in a report launched Friday, accompanied by excerpts of police body-camera footage of the taking pictures.
Prosecutor Rob Baker, who authored the report, famous that Magee and Munoz had been referred to as to answer a person who had prompted his live-in girlfriend, watching over her two youngsters, to contact 911. Gomez, apparently within the midst of a prolonged meth binge, was reportedly performing erratically and informed the girl, with whom he shared a daughter, to barricade herself and the 2 youngsters in a bed room.
Quickly after police arrived, Munoz tackled Gomez as he ran towards the bed room whereas holding a gun, which is clearly proven within the body-camera footage of a 3rd officer. A shot was fired from Gomez’s gun, and Magee shot Gomez out of concern that Munoz had been shot and that Gomez was going to shoot once more, Baker wrote.
“The two officers put themselves directly in harm’s way to protect two young children and fellow officers from the threat of great bodily injury or death posed by Miguel Gomez,” the report states. “The officers reasonably believed they needed to use deadly force, and such force was necessary and reasonable under the circumstances.”
In keeping with police and prosecutors, on the night time earlier than the taking pictures, Gomez’s girlfriend — recognized solely as Jane Doe within the report — contacted police to report that her “on-again, off-again boyfriend” had been performing erratically and had not slept in 4 days due to repeated methamphetamine consumption. She reported that Gomez had been residing at her South Bascom Avenue house.
Gomez had apparently informed her to isolate herself and her two youngsters — ages 6 years and 9 months — in a bed room, after which he was seen “laughing uncontrollably while wrapped in a blanket laying on the living room floor,” based on the report. That prompted Doe to contact 911 once more by way of textual content message at 2:57 a.m. the morning of the taking pictures.
Law enforcement officials arrived simply after 3 a.m. They texted Doe to depart the house to fulfill up with them, and he or she informed them Gomez was in the lounge whereas her youngsters had been in a rear bed room, the report states. Officers appeared up Gomez in a legal database and confirmed that Doe had a peaceful-contact home violence restraining order in opposition to Gomez, and that he had an energetic misdemeanor home violence arrest warrant issued for him.
Baker wrote that Magee established a plan for the officers to enter the house, get up Gomez and examine on the kids. Magee, Munoz and two different officers opened the entrance door utilizing Doe’s key and introduced themselves to Gomez. Officers then heard the sound of a handgun being chambered, the report mentioned.
Munoz ordered Gomez to cease the place he was, however Gomez as an alternative ran right into a hallway resulting in the rear bed room, prompting Munoz to chase after Gomez and deal with him to the ground. Gomez fired a 9mm spherical within the course of Magee and one other officer that hit the ceiling, and after Munoz struggled to pin down Gomez’s handgun, Magee fired a shot at Gomez’s torso, then twice extra at Gomez’s head.
Within the video launched with the report, one of many youngsters could be heard calling for his or her father within the moments after the taking pictures.
When requested about why he shot Gomez within the head, Magee informed investigators that after the primary shot, he might not cleanly intention at Gomez’s torso due to the bodily battle nonetheless taking place with Munoz, and that Gomez’s head was the one clear shot he had.
Munoz informed investigators that he ran after Gomez as a result of he couldn’t “let him get to the kids’ room.”
An post-mortem confirmed that Gomez died from gunshot accidents in his chest, face and head. Doe would later inform investigators that “her goal was not for (Gomez) to be arrested, but to have the police get him out of her apartment so she and her children would be safe.” She additionally reportedly mentioned “no” when the responding officers requested if Gomez had a gun within the house.
