SAN MARCOS — The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office has released body-worn camera footage capturing officers’ fatal shooting of a man in San Marcos last month, after they said he fired a gun at them during a traffic stop.
The shooting occurred around 9 p.m. on Feb. 18 in the 600 block of North Twin Oaks Valley Road. Andre Raphael Mendez, 33, of Oceanside, was in the passenger seat of the car and was fatally shot by six officers and died at the scene. No other injuries were reported.
The video, released on Friday by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, shows the body-worn camera footage of Deputy Sean Dwyer approaching the vehicle and telling the 21-year-old woman in the driver’s seat that the car’s third brake light is out, and that the license plate for the car does not appear to match the vehicle.
The woman is cooperative and explains that she just purchased the vehicle and needs to transfer the registration, but that she has insurance for the car, which she shows to Dwyer on her phone.
Dwyer then goes to the passenger side of the vehicle, which the Sheriff’s Office said was because he wanted to get a better look at the steering wheel column after noticing the steering wheel housing was broken.
Dwyer tells Mendez to roll down his window and asks him his name. Mendez rolls down the window and gives the name of a family member, which the officer determines to be false during a records check.
The video then shows Dwyer pulling out his weapon and telling Mendez to stop reaching down to the floor of the car. Mendez says he isn’t doing anything and tells the officer to “chill” and then rolls up the passenger window.
Dwyer and other officers then begin yelling at Mendez to stop reaching and point their weapons at him.
One officer escorts the female driver out of the car. She begins screaming and can be heard shouting “Dre,” and an officer asks her repeatedly if he has a gun, saying, “I don’t want to shoot him.” She says, “I don’t know, I don’t know.”
Another officer standing next to Dwyer says he can see the gun’s tan magazine. Dwyer then tells another officer to break the passenger side window.
An officer shouts repeatedly to Mendez to drop his gun, saying, “I will f–ing shoot you.”
An officer breaks the passenger window with a baton as Mendez leans away toward the driver’s side. Officers continue telling him to drop the gun while breaking the window, and Mendez repeatedly asks them to stop.
An officer then says he sees the gun and says, “Don’t do it, man.” The officer then says he is going to tase Mendez and reaches in with a taser. A flash can be seen inside the car, and officers immediately discharge their weapons for several seconds.
There is also body camera footage from another officer facing the car head-on, with Mendez visible through the windshield. That footage shows Mendez being tased and then lifting his right arm up into the air, and a flash going off, which the Sheriff’s Office said was from the muzzle of his gun.
The Sheriff’s Office also released footage from another officer who was on the driver’s side of the vehicle after Mendez allegedly pulled out his gun. The video shows the female passenger repeatedly saying “Stop” and asking to be let out of the car, and then being pulled out by an officer.
Lastly, the Sheriff’s Office included a view of the shooting from a cell phone video taken across the street.
Officers provided medical aid to Mendez, but he died at the scene, according to law enforcement.
The officers who deployed their weapons are Palomar College reserve police Officer Kyle Hodges and sheriff’s deputies Jake Brown, Chalit Caranto, Thomas Cook, Sean Dwyer and Justin Tesar, all of whom are assigned to the San Marcos station.
The gun is not visible in the body camera footage, and the view of Mendez is largely blocked by Dwyer’s arms, which are holding his weapon out in front of him.
An investigation into the shooting is still underway by the San Diego Police Department. Outside police departments are required to investigate officer-involved shootings under a regional agreement designed to prevent conflicts of interest.
The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office will also review the SDPD’s investigation findings. The county’s Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board, or CLERB, is also reviewing the incident and will provide recommendations.
“We are committed to transparency, public trust and compliance with the law,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. “With the investigation still underway, San Diego Police has reviewed and approved the release of this critical incident video.”
Mendez’s family has started a GoFundMe to cover funeral costs. They said his life was taken in a “very cruel, unnecessary overuse of force.”
“It’s very hard to even express how my heart is shattered into so many different shards,” his mother, Laneka Chatton, said on the GoFundMe page. “He was a son, father, brother, grandson, cousin, uncle, nephew, and Godson that was larger than life, loved by many. He will live on in all of our hearts and minds.”
