The California Department of Justice is opening an investigation into the fatal shooting by Santa Ana police of a man armed with a fake rifle on Sunday, authorities said.
The Santa Ana Police Department responded to reports of a man loading a rifle near Broadway and 2nd streets at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, according to the department. After arriving on scene, two officers shot the man multiple times, said department spokesperson Officer Natalie Garcia.
The man, identified only as a 30 years old and Latino, was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead, police said. No more details about the shooting were released, including whether the man pointed the rifle at the responding police officers.
The rifle the man was reported to be carrying turned out to be an airsoft gun, a nonlethal replica firearm that shoots plastic pellets and is often used for games like paintball, police said. There were no reports of bystanders or officers harmed during the incident and a critical incident debrief will be released in the coming weeks, police said.
On Monday, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced that the California Department of Justice will conduct an independent review of the shooting in accordance with Assembly Bill 1506, which requires the department to investigate all incidents of an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian in the state.
After the DOJ’s California Police Shooting Investigation Team completes the investigation, the report will be turned over to DOJ’s Special Prosecutions Section within the Criminal Law Division for independent review and possible criminal charges.
Before AB 1506 was signed into law in September 2020, these incidents were handled by local law enforcement agencies and district attorney offices.
The goal of transferring investigations to the DOJ was to increase trust between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve by having an independent body review incidents and determine possible criminal liability.
Under AB 1506, the DOJ is required to publicly release information about investigations and eventually publish its determination on criminal prosecutions. If criminal charges are not deemed appropriate, the DOJ will release a report with an explanation of what took place during the incident and why criminal charges were not pursued as well as recommendations to improve the practices of the law enforcement agency involved.
