A heavily intoxicated off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was killed by a fusillade of bullets fired from the guns of at least four Fontana police officers on the grounds of the Sierra Lakes golf course Tuesday afternoon.
Alejandro Diaz, 45, a 19-year Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department veteran and resident of the north Fontana neighborhood immediately adjacent to the Sierra Lakes golf course, discharged his gun inside the home he shared with his family in the 16600 block of Colonial Drive around 3:50 p.m. August 15.
Diaz, who was visibly upset, then left his house. At least two members of his family attempted to restrain him and pull him back into the house’s garage, at which point the three of them tripped or fell on the driveway. Diaz got to his feet and continued walking toward the golf course. A call came into the Fontana Police Department’s dispatch center at 3:55 p.m. from Diaz’s wife, who related that her husband had fired a gun at a wall inside their home. Several others called the police to report a man walking through their neighborhood with a gun in hand.As Diaz approached the country club at the golf course, he redirected himself and began running toward one of the course’s links. Multiple police department units responding to the area of the golf course, and the officers spotted Diaz. Ultimately, they converged on him in the 16600 block of Clubhouse Drive, near the Sierra Lakes clubhouse.
A video with audio from a handheld device or a cell phone showed Diaz sitting on the ground propped up against a golf cart as four officers with their guns drawn approach him. In the video he can be seen momentarily raising his left hand and then dropping it as the officers gingerly approach him. Diaz then rolled over, so he is prone on his back. He reaches out with his right hand.
“He’s got it!” one of the officers is heard yelling. After less than a full second delay, a first officer fires and instantaneously the other three officers discharge their weapons. It did not appear that Diaz had fully gripped what he was reaching for nor discharged his gun.
After the shooting ended, one of the officers is heard saying, “He grabbed the gun.”
“What an idiot,” another officer responds.
The police department put out a statement that the police had found themselves in a no-win situation.
“After giving several verbal commands, a lethal force encounter occurred,” according to the department. “Immediately after the shooting, officers, including two technical reserve paramedics, provided advanced life-saving measures while San Bernardino County fire medics arrived and continued medical treatment.”
Diaz was transported to Kaiser Hospital in Fontana, where he was pronounced dead.
-Mark Gutglueck