Officer killed in SLO: Police yelled ‘He has a gun!’ before witness heard volley of shots
A San Luis Obispo neighborhood erupted in a spasm of gunfire and violence Monday evening that killed one police officer, injured another and left the suspect dead.
On Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo Police Department released the names of those involved, as well as a more detailed account of what occurred.
At about 5 p.m. Monday, authorities say six San Luis Obispo police officers responded to an apartment on Camellia Court to search the home of Edward Zamora Giron, 37, in relation to a series of late-night commercial robberies throughout the city.
Instead, they were met with gunfire.
Witnesses later described a confusing cacophony of banging, yelling and gunshots. One said she saw a man brandishing a “big gun” and shooting at officers from an apartment door as they hid behind vehicles.
Another said they heard officers shout: “He has a gun!” before shots rang out.
By 6 p.m., both Det. Luca Benedetti, a 37-year-old father of two and 12-year veteran of the force, and Giron lay dead — the latter killed by “an apparent self-inflicted, fatal gunshot wound,” according to police.
Meanwhile a second officer, Det. Steve Orozco, was taken to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center for injuries he sustained in the incident. Orozco is expected to make a full recovery.
In a news conference Tuesday, city and police officials grappled with the Monday’s tragic events, wondering how something like this could happen in a city like San Luis Obispo.
“Yesterday I had to share the most difficult news I’ve ever had to deliver,” City Manager Derek Johnson, his voice breaking with emotion, “that our community lost one of the dedicated servants while doing his job and keeping our community safe.”
Johnson also offered his support and sympathy to Benedetti’s wife and two young children.
“We are heartbroken alongside you,” Johnson said. “Know the entire city will walk the path of grief with you and will always remember Luca’s sacrifice.”
Police share details that led to shoot-out with suspect
Though details were initially scarce during and immediately after the incident on Monday, in the news conference Tuesday officials shared a more specific timeline of what occurred.
Acting San Luis Obispo Police Chief Brian Amoroso said six officers arrived a Giron’s apartment around 5 p.m. with a search warrant related to a recent string of commercial burglaries in the area. One of those burglaries was the Pad climbing gym early Monday, Sheriff Ian Parkinson confirmed.
As the officers approached the apartment, they identified themselves and asked to enter, Amoroso said.
“After an extended period of time, and having received no response, they forced the door open, at which point (Giron) was laying in wait and began to fire shots from inside the apartment,” he said.
Amoroso said officers returned fire and retreated, but Benedetti and Orozco were injured in the exchange.
“Detective Luca Benedetti, 37 years old, tragically died at the scene as a result of the wounds he suffered,” Amoroso said.
Giron was later found dead inside the apartment with “an apparent self-inflicted, fatal gunshot wound and other injuries consistent with being struck by the officers’ return fire,” Amoroso said. The city had initially reported that Giron was killed by police.
On Tuesday, the San Luis Obispo Police Department confirmed it had turned over the investigation to the SLO County Sheriff’s Office as is standard procedure in an officer-involved shooting.
Parkinson said deputies searched the apartment after the incident and did find “property there that was reported to the police department as taken in the commercial burglaries that they were investigating.”
He also said said law enforcement had no mental health alerts for Giron, but that he had been arrested on multiple occasions for alcohol-related offenses.
Witnesses told The Tribune that the weapon used appeared to be an assault-style rifle, and Parkinson said “that aligns” with what their investigation found.
Neighbors near shooting ‘never expected this to happen’
The residential area off of Margarita Avenue is actually several different tiny neighborhoods all situated along one main road, like vertebrae along a spine.
At the base of the spine, closer to the Department of Motor Vehicles office along South Higuera Street, are several apartment complexes, home to families, young workers and the occasional Cal Poly student.
It’s a relatively quiet area of town, not prone to a lot of action other than a few medical responses and a close call with a hillside wildfire last year.
“I would have never expected something like this to happen, especially down here, because it’s like, it’s mostly just like families and stuff,” Monica Rochte, 31, told The Tribune from outside her apartment Monday evening. “Some care homes down the way. The only time we have an ambulance is because one of the older people at that care home needs care.”
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So when shots and then sirens rang out throughout the neighborhood Monday evening, it was clear something was happening.
Rochte was working from home that day, contemplating taking out the trash, when she first became aware something was wrong.
All of a sudden, she could hear police banging on a door across the street in Camellia Court, yelling, “Edward, we’re going to come in. We know you’re in there.”
The noise continued for a while before suddenly there was a huge bang, which she thought sounded like somebody knocking down a door.
Then a single shot followed.
Next thing Rochte knew, someone was yelling “He has a gun!” before a series of 15 to 20 more shots rang out.
“And then I could hear sporadic shots for like a minute or so after that,” she said.
Witness hid after gunshots exchanged in road
Another neighbor, Victoria Torres, 21, said she was upstairs in the same building as Rochte when the incident erupted outside.
“I heard like a very loud knocking — I don’t know if it was the police or what,” she said. “I always hear noises here so I didn’t think anything of it until I heard the gunshots.“
Torres said she didn’t really know what gunshots sounded like, but the sounds were “so extremely loud,” she knew something was wrong.
She looked out her window and saw a police car. Then she walked downstairs and looked out another window.
“That’s when I saw the man,” she said.
He was carrying a “big gun” and began shooting at officers from the door of an apartment, Torres said. The officers were hiding behind their car.
So she went back upstairs to hide and call 911.
“I was pretty startled and frightened,” she said. “I just hid. I looked out the window again when it got quiet. Because I wasn’t sure what happened.”
By that time the officers had moved to behind Torres’ car. She said she wasn’t sure where the man with the gun was after that.
“Then I decided to not watch anymore because it was too scary,” she said.
‘Suspect down.’ Officers storm SLO apartment, guns drawn
Tribune photographer David Middlecamp was on the scene only a few minutes after hearing the first calls of a potential active shooter with an officer down in the area.
When he arrived just around 5:40 p.m., he saw gathering officers pointing rifles toward the small tan-and-brown apartment complex on Camellia Court. The officers then rushed a door on the second floor of the complex, guns drawn.
A few hectic moments later, a grim message came across the static of the police scanner: “Suspect down.”
With those words, a new whirlwind of activity began. Four stretchers from San Luis Ambulance were pulled out, prepared, and then wheeled back into their vehicles without patients.
Police officers, clearly distraught, consoled one another next to the rows of parked emergency vehicles.
It wouldn’t be until much later that night that the city confirmed why they were distraught.
In the meantime, an investigation began.
Someone hung a white sheet along the railing in front of the second-floor door where much of the action was focused, as a slew of crime scene investigators trekked in and out of the building.
SLO County Sheriff’s Office crime scene tape was unrolled, separating Camellia Court from the surrounding homes with a strip of yellow plastic, even as curious onlookers flocked to the street corners to gawk.
People were asked to stay away from the area (a request to which there was some success until a low-flying helicopter shook people from their homes as it circled the area a multitude of times).
As the sun set and darkness spread, soon there was little left to do but move the remains of those killed, sending them along to the coroner’s office for examination.
After a body was whisked away from the scene just after 8:40 p.m., a silent and methodical procession of police vehicles made its way down South Higuera Street, flashing blue and red lights the entire way.
‘Yesterday was an absolute tragedy,’ police chief says of shooting
The pain of what happened Monday will likely continue to be felt by the department in the coming days, weeks and months, new San Luis Obispo Police Chief Rick Scott said during the news conference Tuesday.
“Yesterday was an absolute tragedy — an officer died serving our community,” Scott said.
Scott’s first day leading the department was scheduled for later this week, but tragedy prompted him to begin his new position earlier than expected.
“What I saw on my first day on the job was how dedicated each of our officers are in our police family to one another, and they held each other up,” he said. “Last night, our police family wrapped their arms around one another. ... I saw expressions of love and support for one another, and the amazing strength displayed through this grief.”
Scott said he wanted to extend his sympathy to not only the Benedetti and Orozco families, but also “the entire community of San Luis Obispo.”
“This tragic loss will be deeply felt, and will take time to gain understanding and begin to heal,” he said. “It will take even longer to consider how something so tragic could happen here, and to the good men and women of your police department.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2021 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Officer killed in SLO: Police yelled ‘He has a gun!’ before witness heard volley of shots."
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