Paso man killed in traffic stop was suicidal, pulled BB gun on deputies, DA report says
A Paso Robles man was suicidal and pulled a replica-styled BB gun on sheriff’s deputies before they shot him to death during a 2017 traffic stop, a District Attorney’s Office review of the incident says.
The document also states that the man had a potentially toxic level of cocaine in his blood at the time of death and that a suicide note was found in the trunk of his car.
The DA’s Office released its findings on the Jan. 24, 2017, fatal shooting of Josue Gallardo to The Tribune on Thursday in response to a records request filed under a new state law that opens access to investigations of officer-involved shootings. The county is still reviewing video and audio footage of the shooting and subsequent investigation, which it has said will be provided to the newspaper within the month.
Redacted copies of about 400 pages of records related to the incident will also take about six months to be released to The Tribune, the County Counsel’s Office said last month.
The DA’s report — based in part on a Sheriff’s Office investigation — calls into question claims made in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by Gallardo’s widow that alleges the two deputies involved were aggressive and violated the civil rights of Gallardo, who the lawsuit says was “complying with every command.”
But the report also states that the agency’s review did “not address issues of civil liability, tactics, or departmental policies or procedures.”
“We address only the question of whether the involved deputies’ use of deadly force in the shooting of Mr. Gallardo was lawful or unlawful under the facts of this incident,” the report reads.
Former Assistant District Attorney Lee Cunningham signed the report June 9, 2017, concluding that the deputies’ killing of Gallardo was lawful and that no further action would be taken by the agency.
Justin Sterling, one of two attorneys representing Frances Gallardo in her wrongful death lawsuit against the county, wrote in an email Friday that “it’s important to recognize that this same report very clearly concedes the fact that the DA’s review in no way speaks to the issue of civil liability or departmental policies or procedure.”
“This tragedy is undeniable and the DA’s report raises serious questions about the SLO County Sheriff’s procedures for dealing with troubled individuals,” Sterling wrote. “What is most concerning is that the account of the deputies involved is in no way supported by either the physical or documentary evidence.” A hearing in the wrongful death civil case is scheduled for March 4 in Los Angeles, court records show.
‘I want you to kill me’
According to information released by the Sheriff’s Office at the time, Gallardo, 34, was pulled over by Senior Deputy Greg Roach and Deputy Jonathan Calvert on Highway 101 in Atascadero near the Santa Barbara Road exit at about 12:05 a.m. Jan. 24, 2017.
Gallardo — who the Sheriff’s Office claimed in a news release was a transient and wanted on a warrant for a 2016 domestic violence incident — pulled a gun on the deputies, who “fired shots then retreated,” the Sheriff’s Office said at the time.
Gallardo was found dead inside the vehicle after backup arrived, a news release said.
The county had not previously released details of the incident before it responded to Frances Gallardo’s lawsuit in a legal filing, saying that Gallardo responded to the deputies by saying, “I want you to shoot me. I want you to kill me.”
The county’s response states that Calvert told Gallardo, “I don’t want to kill you” and “I don’t know you.”
The 13-page DA’s Office report states that Roach was familiar with Gallardo from a Jan. 9, 2017, incident in which Gallardo, driving a Cadillac, was chased away from a residence in Shandon associated with his estranged wife. Roach later found the a Cadillac matching that description unattended in Shandon and a license plate check came back to a car rental company, the report states.
Roach also knew of Gallardo from a domestic violence incident in 2016 for which Gallardo had a $25,000 warrant for his arrest, the report states.
“While following the Cadillac (on Jan. 24, 2017), Deputy Roach told Deputy Calvert that if the license plate returned as a rental car, it would probably be driven by Josue Gallardo, who had a warrant for his arrest,” the report reads.
The document says the deputies recognized Gallardo as the driver and pulled the Cadillac over on Highway 101. They approached the vehicle with their guns drawn, the report says, “due to a sense that Gallardo might be dangerous.”
Gallardo had an “agitated or angry look on his face,” the report states, and after telling deputies that he wanted them to kill him, Gallardo at times complied with Calvert’s demands. Calvert reportedly asked Gallardo if he had a gun, but received no answer.
Roach, on the passenger side of the car, then noticed Gallardo’s hand move toward his right pocket and “pull out a gun,” which Gallardo swung toward the driver door, the report states. Roach fired into the car, and Calvert, seeing the driver door opening, also fired into the car.
Deputies fire 35 rounds
The officers fired a total of 35 rounds in the incident, the report states; Roach fired 15 rounds, while Calvert discharged his weapon 20 times. The report does not specify whether either officer reloaded.
Responding emergency personnel pronounced Gallardo dead at the scene. An autopsy revealed he had been shot seven times, including a fatal shot to the head.
The report states that additional deputies discovered what was then described as a black semi-automatic pistol in Gallardo’s lap.
That weapon, the report states, was a BB gun designed to be a replica of a Walther PPK that Gallardo purchased six days earlier at a local Walmart.
“(It) does not matter that the danger of death or great bodily injury may not have existed because, unbeknownst to (the deputies), the weapon was a BB gun,” the report concludes. “It was reasonable to believe that the object in Gallardo’s right hand was a firearm.”
The report also discusses at length Gallardo’s alleged mental state and drug use. According to the report, Gallardo had sent his estranged wife several suicidal messages, including a photo of him holding a gun to his head.
The report states that witnesses said they suspected Gallardo had recently been abusing cocaine, and a search of Gallardo’s room at the Carlton Hotel in Atascadero after the shooting turned up about seven grams of cocaine, and a toxicology report showed a potentially toxic level of cocaine in Gallardo’s blood at the time of death.
A apologetic suicide note was reportedly found in the trunk of the Cadillac.
Sterling did not immediately respond to follow-up questions about Gallardo’s reported purchase of the BB gun nor the report’s finding that it was discovered in Gallardo’s lap following the shooting.
However, Sterling said in his initial email that his team expects the county to “raise issues about Josue Gallardo that are both untrue and irrelevant to the constitutional questions that will be the focus of this litigation.”
“Ultimately, the question is whether firing 35 rounds into a seated motorist, who is not posing an immediate threat, is reasonable under the circumstances,” Sterling wrote. “We are confident that a Los Angeles jury will certainly answer no to that question.”
This story was originally published February 15, 2019 at 2:21 PM.
