Update: Fatal Sparks police shooting of Francisco Pena 'justified and lawful'

22 hours ago
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Two Sparks police officers were “justified and lawful under Nevada law” in a fatal 2022 shooting when responding to a domestic violence call, the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.

It also released a 29-page report detailing the investigation into what happened and giving its legal opinion.

Officers Britt Brown and Tom Radley were called out on a warm August night just before 8 a.m. to a Merchant Street apartment by a woman who said her estranged husband had attacked her and injured their teenage son, according to the report.

The two officers came from different directions and immediately met a screaming, knife-wielding Francisco Pena, 59, as seen in bodycam footage. They ordered him to drop the knife multiple times and together shot him almost simultaneously, once from a rifle and twice from a pistol.

The elapsed time from dispatch receiving the 911 call to the officers’ arrival and Pena’s shooting was about two minutes.

The incident happened in the cramped doorway on the second floor of a Sparks apartment building. Slow-motion video shows Pena’s knife falling to the ground as he’s hit.

“With Pena visibly agitated, holding a knife in close proximity to both the officers and (the son), and with the knowledge that Pena had reportedly been violent towards his wife and son just prior to officers’ arrival, both Officer Brown and Officer Radley felt in fear for everyone’s safety and shot Pena, striking him three times,” the DA’s report said.

“Officer Brown’s and Officer Radley’s actions were absolutely necessary under the circumstances and carried out for the purpose of attempting to avoid death or great bodily injury to themselves and (Pena’s son).”

Many of the incident’s details came out in a 23-minute video that Sparks police released two years ago. It relied heavily on the officers’ bodycam footage.

Additional information such as Pena’s history of jealousy came out in the investigative report.

He’d been married to his wife for 17 years but separated for the last three, she told detectives.

The investigative report described her interview this way:

She “explained that Pena was violent and jealous throughout their relationship. He also sent her threatening text messages. The day before the shooting, Pena texted (her) that he would kill any other man she was with. During that same timeframe, Pena sent (her) a video of him pointing a gun at his own head.

“The day of the shooting, Pena learned that (she) was out of town with another man. Upon learning this, Pena began harassing (her) by calling and sending her threatening text messages. At some point that afternoon, Pena went to her apartment and waited for her to return. (She) explained that she had no idea he was in her apartment when she arrived home around 7 p.m.

“When she walked inside, Pena was sitting in the living room on the couch. She tried to walk past him and go into her bedroom, but Pena grabbed her. While holding a knife in his hand, Pena told her to call her boyfriend or give Pena his name so he could ‘cut his (redacted) off.’

“Originally, she thought Pena only had a knife; however, she saw a firearm (an AR-15 rifle) as well when he followed her into her bedroom. The two began to struggle and Pena pinned (her) down by her throat, screaming at her to ‘call the man, call the man.’”

Their son came into the room and got cut trying to take the knife away, the report said.

While they struggled, the woman escaped and called 911 from a neighbor’s downstairs apartment, the report said.

The son and Brown both said he heard Pena yell “shoot me” while holding the knife in front of the officers, the report said.

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