Local law officials to keep mum on Andy Lopez case for now

Sonoma County law enforcement officials promised a crowded community forum on Thursday that they will eventually answer the many questions surrounding the shooting death of Andy Lopez, but declined to discuss details of the case.

“I can assure you that once the decision is made, it will be a very public decision and my hope is that everybody understands the reason for my decision,” said District Attorney Jill Ravitch ...

“But until that time, there may be information you're not made aware of, and that's the nature of an investigation, so that the integrity can be protected,” she said.

Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Dueñas refused to answer several pointed questions from audience members about why Gelhaus shot the youth seven times. He said the department is committed to examining its policies and procedures critically.

“What I can tell you is once the case is investigated and we look at it (through) an administrative review, we'll be able to answer some of those questions more thoroughly,” he said. “But right now I can't say that it was overkill or wasn't overkill. We have to look at all the facts.”.....

Gelhaus shot Lopez after spotting him walking along Moorland Avenue in the middle of the afternoon carrying an airsoft BB gun that resembled an AK-47 rifle. Gelhaus told investigators that he believed the gun was real and was afraid the youth would shoot after he did not comply with a command to drop the gun and began turning toward the deputy.

Critics, however, have questioned whether Gelhaus gave Lopez sufficient time to understand who was yelling at him and comply with the order. Protesters in recent weeks have demanded that Ravitch file criminal charges against Gelhaus, but she has said that would be premature since the investigation is far from complete..............

The facts of this case are pretty much out in the open. One of those facts is that the sheriff's department tried to float half truths but were caught. So now everyone has decided to shut up.

SRPD's response to the protests at city hall is to station militarized SWAT teams upon the tops of buildings overlooking the protesters for a surreal picture.

Meanwhile many of the usual dissident groups are using this upcoming whitewash to further their political agendas and are no doubt hoping for it.

Will DA Jill Ravitch oblige them???

Hurdles for the DA to overcome in her whitewash:

1] The two deputies were on routine patrol. There were no reports of shots fired. No reports of suspicious persons other than theirs. No reports of someone threatening anyone with a gun. No one in that neighborhood felt threatened by Andy walking up the sidewalk with a plastic pellet rifle in his left hand as apparently there are places in Santa Rosa where people go and pay to shoot plastic pellets at one another. The police know this and if they don’t then they are willfully ignorant.

2]The order to drop the gun was given by deputy Gelhaus in the passenger seat furthest from “the suspicious person” and while in the car — not after he got out of the car. How did he expect him to hear him???

3] The order to drop the gun was given 3 seconds before Gelhaus opened fire during which time Gelhaus was opening the door, unbuckling his seatbelt, getting out of the car, pulling his automatic, getting a bead on the target — but failing to repeat the order to drop the gun. When did he have time during all of that to actually look to see anything about the person that he was going to kill???

4] The deputy closest to the suspicious person and most vulnerable to the line of fire held his fire. The SRPD initially claimed that Gelhaus got out and was firing before the car stopped but witnesses say otherwise and so does physics. The fact that this deputy with 11 years of LE experience wisely held his fire while Gelhaus was emptying his clip into a boy with a toy is problematic. There was clearly a difference of opinion here regarding how much “fear” there could have been in the situation. Why wasn’t the deputy afraid enough for his life to join in the shoot?

To cover for this the SRPD bogus claims that by the time the car stopped the shooting was all over — thus the driving deputy didn’t really hold his fire but he just didn’t get a chance to participate in the shootdown because it happened too fast — valet parking is like that, you know.

The fact is that witnesses said both had taken cover behind the car doors — but only one shot and he shot eight times.

5] and the list goes on — the DA will need a special order of white paint for this one.

Good points. My understanding is that Gelhaus was training a new rookie. He was probably a *little amped up*. I think he is the type of guy who gets his enjoyment out of showing the newbies how it’s done. He saw what he wanted to see, not a 13 year old kid with a bb gun, who plays trumpet in the school band, but a gangbanger with an assault rifle. And he was gonna show this rookie how to turn on the “mean gene”. Gelhaus wrote articles for SWAT Magazine. In 2008, he wrote in SWAT: “Today is the day you may need to kill someone in order to go home. If you cannot turn into the ‘Mean Gene’ for yourself, who will? If you find yourself in an ambush, in the kill zone, you need to turn on the ‘Mean Gene.’

I'm sure that everytime he was at the range and training new hires that he got THE question:

"So how many people have you shot in your 24 year police career".

Saying "none" to that question that he had to answer again and again may have somehow made him feel inadequate. After all how good can a gun expert be without notches on his handle.

When he saw Andy he recognized his opportunity to remedy that inadequacy and nothing was going to stop him even if it was a boy with a toy.

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