Allison Gatlin

The Salinas Californian

Salinas police fatally shot a man armed with gardening shears midday Tuesday outside a Sanborn Road bakery, Cmdr. Vince Maiorana said.

The officer-involved fatality is the second this month and the third for the year including the deaths of Osman Hernandez and Angel Ruiz, respectively. Last year, Salinas police killed one: Jose Ruiz, on Williams Road.

Officers responded about noon Tuesday to a home on the 700 block of Elkington Avenue when a woman reported a man had jumped her backyard fence and attempted to attack her dog with scissors, Maiorana said.

When officers encountered the man at the intersection of Sanborn Road and Del Monte Avenue, outside Delicia's Bakery, he made no attempt to hide the shears, Maiorana said.

Attempts at hailing the man in English and Spanish were unsuccessful, Maiorana said. Officers then unsuccessfully deployed a Taser as the man began waving the gardening shears in the air, he said.

"This individual pulled the gardening shears and actually attempted to attack the officers with the gardening shears," Maiorana said. "In response, the officers, fearing for their personal safety, shot this individual, and this individual is now deceased."

Both officers involved fired and will be placed on paid administrative leave, per policy, Maiorana said. He wouldn't identify the officers except to say both are veterans of the force with "many, many years" under their belts.

Investigators are currently poring over video evidence and witness statements, Maiorana said. The video evidence will most likely not be publicized, he added.

However, "There's no doubt about what happened," he said.

An individual detained at the scene wasn't involved in the shooting incident, Maiorana said, explaining the man exchanged words with another from a rival gang.

"This individual went back to the location with a weapon, like a tire iron, and we took him into custody," Maiorana said.

Between noon and 3 p.m., a crowd gathered on the crime scene outskirts, expressing palpable frustration with the mounting number of officer-involved shootings.

In a mixture of English and Spanish, several said they feared the police while others called for justice and an overhaul of the Salinas Police Department. Even more voiced outrage that the man's body hadn't yet been concealed from public view by 2 p.m.

Salinas City Councilman Jose Castaneda, who represents the district in which the shooting occurred, stood on periphery, attempting to arrange a community meeting that afternoon. He called for the City Council to approve the creation of a citizens' review board of officer-involved fatalities.

He further suggested outside authorities such as the U.S. Department of Justice take a further look into the recent spate of officer-involved shootings in Salinas.

"The people are looking for answers and so am I," he said. "The community doesn't trust the Police Department to decide whether this [officer-involved fatality] was justified or not."

Castaneda acknowledged the crowd's anger was likely related to racial or ethnic tensions.

"Nobody wants to talk about it, but that's automatically what comes to the forefront," he said. "You can feel the tension in the air."

Marina Gomez called the neighborhood very safe — with the exception of Tuesday's shooting.

She recalled seeing the man walk into the bakery and buy a loaf of bread.

"He walked out and he didn't say anything," she said in Spanish. "The police shot him four times in the head."

Another man recounted a similar view.

"The Mexican people are innocent," he said. "He was buying bread."

Maiorana was unsure whether the man entered the bakery and wouldn't comment on how many times he was shot.

He pleaded with the public not to jump to conclusions based on "inaccurate and incomplete information."

"He wasn't behaving normally," Maiorana said. "We have an individual walking in a very densely populated area where you have men, women and children and young kids getting out of school, and this guy has gardening shears in his hands."

The Salinas shooting comes a day after Soledad police Sgt. Thomas Marchese was stabbed as police tried to break up a domestic disturbance. Marchese is said to be home recovering from his wounds. In that case, officers had tried to stop the 17-year-old boy allegedly wielding a knife by firing a Taser electronic stun gun at him, Soledad police said.

Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter @allison_salnews #salinas.