OCDA Releases Report on Robert Moreno/Anaheim PD Shooting

The Orange County District Attorney’s office has released its investigative report in the Anaheim Police Department’s Officer-involved shooting death of Robert Moreno Jr, known as “Lil Clumsy.”  The DA’s report concludes the shooting was justified.

The report can be read at this link, and the case sparked considerable outrage because of comments made by Anaheim Council member Lucille Kring who wrote a comment in an Anaheim Community Newsgroup, that ““Bruno [the wounded police dog] is a true hero as are all the canine police officers.   And the shooting saved us a trial. Always a good outcome.”

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait’s proponents seized on this statement to call on Kring to resign saying it was proof she favored summary executions.  Kring later apologized for her poor choice of words.  The Tait-biots, led by OJ blogger, seemed to do gymnastics to suggest Moreno may not have even fired a gun.  Anaheim city council candidate Donna Acevedo even suggested to me it was possible that Anaheim K-9 officer Bruno might even have been struck by a bullet fired by Anaheim police.  There never seemed to be any concern by Tait-bots or Tait himself about the family Moreno allegedly held a gun to while hiding from police.

Some facts in the investigation:

• Seven interviews were conducted and 46 witnesses were contacted in the investigation.
• Moreno was one of three males seen by police who fled when police approached them; officers recognized a standing Moreno as one of the trio who fled the scene.  When Moreno was asked what he was doing by a police officer, Moreno fled down an ally, stopped and pulled a handgun, firing on an Anaheim police officer. At least three shots were fired by Moreno as officers took cover.
• Moreno fired one more shot while making his way behind an apartment complex.
• Anaheim Police used a PA system with warnings in English and Spanish that a police dog had been deployed in the area and to stay inside their homes.
• Moreno hid in a trashcan.  When K-9 Bruno used his nose to lift the lid, Moreno shot the dog once; the bullet remains lodged inside the dog near his heart and cannot be removed.
• Moreno continued firing at the three officers on the scene who returned fire.  As soon as Moreno stopped firing, the police called a cease fire and called to Moreno to surrender for medical attention; with no word from the trash can, officers approached it to discover Moreno had suffered a fatal head wound and his weapon had fallen out of the trash can.  Moreno suffered 23 gunshot wounds resulting in his death.
• The entire initial incident was witnessed by Jaime Gonzalez, a probationer interviewed by police who positively identified Moreno as the person who fired on police officers.
• Moreno had traces of methamphetamine and other drugs in this system.

The comments made in the OJ post we linked to are a real tell here.  Tait-supporter Diamond tries to introduce the notion that Moreno had surrendered to police after having shot the dog only to be executed.

His comment is below: Let’s say that someone shoots at officers and then surrenders. Are they justified in shooting to kill? Let’s say that someone shoots a police dog and then surrenders. Are officers justified in shooting to kill? Right now there’s not even any physical evidence (such as bullet casings, or a gun in his possession that matched the bullet found in Bruno’s chest) that he had a gun at all. Now, I suspect that the cops aren’t lying about that — but they could be. (There’s good reason to think that it has happened in Anaheim’s recent history.) There’s even less evidence that, if he had a gun, he still retained it at the time he was shot. (That, by the way, is a good reason not to shoot if one can avoid it.) Many people seem to think that if he shot Bruno, he deserved to be shot, no matter what — which includes “no matter whether he surrenders.” If you don’t think that that last scenario would be a “summary execution,” you’re simply too ignorant to take part in a discussion. Just because heroes do it in action movies doesn’t make it constitutional.

We’ll note that page 5 of the DA’s report lists the evidence collected from the crime scene.  And the DA’s office concludes that Anaheim police were justified in the use of lethal force in this case.

At the Anaheim City Council meeting following the shooting, Tait lost control of the chambers with multiple F-bombs launched at police by members of the crowd.

Perhaps now, with the DA’s report being completed and seemingly thorough via witness interviews and the collection of evidence and more importantly, an election being over, the actions of the Anaheim PD would be viewed in a different light.