DA Says Fatal Shooting Of Knife Wielding Man By Oxnard Officer Justified
Thursday November 07, 2024
Update--Following an 18 month review the Ventura County District Attorney's Office has concluded that the fatal shooting of a man armed with a knife by an Oxnard police officer was justified.
The report released Thursday said that Officer Jarrod Sheffield "acted reasonably, and the use of deadly force in self defense was justified."
The officer-involved shooting took place on April 7, 2023 in the 2000 block of East Bard Road in Oxnard.
Sheffield was one of four officers and a sergeant who had responded to a report of a man with a knife who had threatened people in the carport area of an apartment complex.
They encountered 18-year-old Christian Baltazar-Torres in a pickup truck that did not belong to him and they repeatedly ordered him out.
They said when finally he did he was armed with a knife and moved towards the sergeant and officers who ordered him to put the knife down.
When he did not, the sergeant deployed a Taser but to little effect.
Then one of the officers used a less lethal shotgun bean bag weapon and Torres finally went down but then got back up in close proximity to the officers, still armed with the knife, and that's when Sheffield shot him.
They started life saving efforts and Torres was taken to VCMC where he died.
Below is a photo and report from OPD released at the time of the incident along with a video of their initial report on the incident.
Here is a link to the DA's report...
