Vallejo police kill man, 23, they say brandished replica gun

VALLEJO, CA--Neighbors on North Vallejo's Pepper Drive were awakened early Sunday when they heard multiple gunshots.

"I didn't hear any siren or anything before that, all I heard was shots," a neighbor said. "I didn't know it was the police."

In the incident, Vallejo police officers had mortally wounded a 23-year-old man allegedly holding what turned out to be a replica handgun, and wounded another. It was the seventh officer-involved shooting this year, and the second fatal one involving a replica gun.

Police say the man, Mario Romero, died from his wounds shortly after he allegedly brandished what was an air gun at two officers near Lofas Place and Pepper Drive. Another man, 21-year-old Joseph Johnson, was shot once through the hip.

However, friends of the dead suspect at the scene later Sunday said the fatally wounded man's name is Mario Romero.

At a Vallejo police headquarters news conference and in a press release, officials said the incident began in a North Vallejo neighborhood that has been experiencing a recent rise in gang-related violent crime.

Police described the chain of events as follows:

A two-man patrol was near Pepper Drive and Lofas Place at about 4:35 a.m. when the officers spotted a vehicle with two occupants parked in the 100 block of Pepper Drive. Police said there had been five gang-related shootings in the area since early August, and the officers decided to see what the occupants were doing inside the car.
 
Using the patrol car's spotlight, the officers illuminated the front of the suspect's car as they walked toward it. Romero then opened the car door, and stood partially behind it.
Officers said later they could see the butt of a handgun in Romero's waistband, and that he first crouched and turned away from police. When he turned around again toward the officers, he was holding the handgun.

The officers then drew their weapons and began repeatedly firing, but did not know if the suspect had been hit because he had once again crouched behind the car door. At this point, the officers ceased firing and ordered the suspect to show his hands.

The suspect initially complied and put his hands up, but then reentered the car and appeared to move toward the center console.

At this point, the two officers began firing again, at first using their patrol car doors as protection, but soon one moved forward and jumped on the car hood to see what was happening inside. They stopped firing only when the driver slumped in the seat. The passenger was found lying on the floor of the car.

Police said at least 30 rounds were fired.

Officers then arrested the driver, called for medical aid and the suspect was pronounced dead a short time later at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Vallejo.

The passenger, meanwhile, was taken to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek with non life-threatening wounds. Police said they did not know if the passenger was wounded by gunfire or by flying shrapnel.

After the shooting, police said they found in the car an "Air-soft" replica handgun and more than 50 Ecstasy pills and packaging materials, indicating the pills were being sold.

Police said both the driver and passenger were on felony probation for weapons charges.

At about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, police were wrapping up the scene but tension still ran high in the area.
A group of about six men stood across the street from the yellow tape on B.W. Williams Drive, yelling at the police who were cleaning the scene.

"What happened to (the police's) motto 'To Serve and Protect,'" Damondrae Johnson said. "Who are they serving and protecting? They don't work with us."

Johnson said Ramiro, who he regards as his own brother, is known as "Papaya" by friends.

"Because he's a sweet man, you know?" Johnson said.

It was the second fatal police shooting involving a replica handgun this year, and also the city's 12th homicide. It also was the seventh officer-involved shooting since May, and the fifth homicide.

On May 25, Peter Mestler, 53, of Vallejo was killed by police in the 2000 block of Sonoma Boulevard after he had allegedly pointed a replica handgun at officers, and refused when they ordered him to drop it.

This latest shooting, like previous ones, is being investigated by the Solano County District Attorney's office and the Vallejo Police Department. The two officers involved have been placed on administrative leave.