Sacramento Sheriff releases video of police shooting in Rancho Cordova parking lot
Four Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies shot and injured a man earlier this month in a Rancho Cordova parking lot after he pointed an object resembling a handgun at them, authorities said Friday, releasing video from the incident.
The item the suspect was holding turned out to be an ignition timing gun — an automotive tool — “that had been altered to look identical to a firearm,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
The shooting incident happened the evening of Sept. 5 outside restaurants in a small shopping center on Investment Circle along Folsom Boulevard, authorities said.
Sheriff’s officials released video from deputies’ in-car cameras and surveillance footage from nearby businesses at the scene.
The videos show a shirtless man holding the dark-colored ignition gun as he walks casually through parking lots in the area, away from deputies who are chasing him from behind and occasionally pointing the tool back at the deputies as he walks.
“Oh my God, he has a gun. Get back here,” an employee inside one of the restaurants says to a coworker as the man walks by its front window, video shows.
The suspect ignored the deputies’ commands to drop the gun and instead continued to walk away from them and into the parking lot in front of the businesses, videos show.
One deputy fired multiple rounds at the suspect as he allegedly pointed the “gun” at him before walking around the corner of a building, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
The angle of this video only shows the suspect’s lower body before he turns the corner, and doesn’t include any deputies in the frame. But the video captures the sound of multiple shots ringing out as customers and employees in the nearby businesses scream out in terror.
The first round of gunshots did not hit the suspect, who continued walking toward the side of the storefronts that faces Folsom Boulevard, videos show.
After walking several more feet, and turning around to point the modified ignition tool at deputies again, the deputies once again opened fire, with some of them taking cover behind pillars in front of the restaurants, videos show.
In a news release accompanying the video release, the Sheriff’s Office says four deputies “fired their duty weapons at the suspect simultaneously, injuring him.”
Dashboard camera video shows the suspect, identified by sheriff’s authorities as 22-year-old Miguel Hernandez, falling to the ground after he is shot.
The deputies waited about three minutes before approaching him to render medical aid, the video shows. Officers heard communicating via radio request a unit with a shield before approaching, but the deputies ultimately converge on him without one. The man is motionless and the ignition tool appears to be a few feet away from his body at this point, videos show.
One of the officers examines the tool, immediately determining and telling dispatch that it is a “fake gun.” The video ends shortly after that.
Hernandez was hospitalized for gunshot injuries. Upon his release, he was booked into the Sacramento County jail on charges relating to pointing a firearm or imitation firearm at a peace officer, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Sheriff’s Office says Hernandez has since been released from custody. Sacramento Superior Court records show he was arraigned this week, charged with one misdemeanor count of exhibiting an imitation firearm. He is due back in court Nov. 3.
The incident was initially reported to dispatch as vandalism at an apartment complex near Investment Circle. The Sheriff’s Office released 911 audio, in which the caller says an adult male vandalized a fence and stole a water hose.
The 911 caller tells the dispatcher that the suspect has what he describes as a “toy gun” or “maybe a BB gun” in his waistband, according to the audio.
The sheriff’s news release says that when Hernandez was first contacted by deputies on Investment Circle, he refused to comply with their instructions, instead laying down without being told. He then “stood up and began running away from the deputies,” the news release said.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Tess Deterding said in a narrated portion of the video news release that three citizens were standing close to a parked car near where the suspect turned the corner.
“Fearing the suspect could shoot the citizens, deputies had an increased sense of urgency to stop the suspect before he injured or killed someone,” Deterding said.
The shooting was the second in the suburban city of Rancho Cordova involving police in as many weeks.
On Aug. 22, police fired upon a man who had shot and killed a woman inside a mobile home before encountering deputies. The man — identified as Christopher Walker, 29, of Sacramento — fired upon arriving law enforcement, wounding Deputy Eric Schmidt.
Schmidt survived and was released from the hospital five days later, after undergoing surgery. Walker died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Walker had shot and killed Betty Lou Winn Spirk, 58, of Sacramento in the incident, according to investigators.
The Rancho Cordova Police Department is staffed by sheriff’s deputies under a contract with the county.
This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 1:11 PM.
