Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Public Sector Gulags

NISD officer shoots and kills teen after chase

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Ursus:
Comments left for the above article, "Officer says he feared for his life when he shot teen" (11/16/2010, News 4 WOAI), #s 41-60:


Jimkata - 11/17/2010 8:51 AM
I'm with felontracker on this one... If you are hiding in a shed, the officer has no idea what kind of weapon you may have on you, or find in there. Like he said, tool sheds are usually full of makeshift "weapons". Doesn't matter that he was 14 years old. That's old enough to pull a trigger, stab, or beat somebody. My understanding is he was also large for a 14 year old. Bottom line is he threatened a cop who was holding a gun - STUPID. Here is something to think about too- story says he was shot in the chest. If he knocked the door open into the officer and then fled, wouldn't he have been shot in the back? He obviously was coming AT the officer.MLZarazua - 11/17/2010 10:59 AM
Listening to all these comments, I can only believe that most of you siding with the "poor 14 year old" either acted just like him when you were young or have children just like him. Try working with students like this on a DAILY BASIS! They have no fear because momma and daddy will take care of whoever says their baby is doing wrong. They don't think twice about killing and dying. America has now come to this..making excuses for everything a child does wrong! Every action has a consequence and believe me, this boy was headed for trouble! The amount of time/paperwork/ etc. it takes to actually expell a student is tremendous! It doesn't just happen overnight! There was nothing good about the way this young boy was living, period!cons3rvative1 - 11/17/2010 11:31 AM
jimkata, the size of any unarmed person doesn't matter. in order for this to be a justifiable homicide the teen would have had to have a weapon and he did not. this is murder plain and simple and san antonio needs to hold this bad cop accountable for his actions.Jimkata - 11/17/2010 12:01 PM
@Cons3rvative - Sorry, but if you are concealing yourself in a shed, what else could you be concealing? How was the cop supposed to know he was unarmed? The kid apparently felt froggy enough to charge an armed police officer, I would have assumed he was armed as well...come on people - 11/17/2010 1:03 PM
The person doesn't have to have a weapon for you to defend yourself. From what I gathered is the kid hit the officer in his face with the shed door then lunged at him. Officer training dictates that when you have to search a room/building/house for a suspect you are to have your weapon drawn for our own safety. Not with just NISD PD but with every PD. I have had to search buildings/homes/rooms for suspects, juvenile and adult, and I've always had my sidearm ready. Expecting an officer to search for a fleeing suspect and using rubber bullets, baton, taser, or pepper spray is putting the officer's life in danger. To the one comment that if the officer was scared to die and it comes with the job he should quit shows his real intelligence. Dying is not part of our job. Bottom line is the kid should have complied and none of this would have happened period! Whether he was bad or good. For all of you who think the officer should've done something different, think about this. Next time someone tries to carjack you, home invades you, or tries to do you harm take your own advice and see what happens and don't call us because we might to be mean to that person.eltoro67 - 11/17/2010 1:05 PM
Again, this story doesn't talk about this kid having any kind of weapon. So I guess all of you that sided with the officer are saying that it is better to shoot anyone that could come out of a shed whether they have a weapon or not just to be on the safe side? This is absolute stupidity. felontracker, just because you have machetes, pruning shears, hedge scissors in you shed doesn't mean everyone else has the same thing but what if this homeowner has the same things in their shed too. Let's also assume that the person hiding in this shed is not a 14 year old but an extremely dangerous convict that escaped and is hiding there. You, nor the cop, nor anyone else knows if this convict is holding someone else in the shed with him. What if he was holding someone else against their will? What if he shoved the door at the cop and then threw out the hostage and because the the cop was disoriented (as you like to put it) just shoots because he feared for his life and kills the wrong person? What would you say then? There could be alot of "what ifs" here that could have completely changed the ending of this story but the facts still remain. This officer has 17 years experience as a cop. He knew someone was hiding in the shed. He knew this person was 14 years old. All the "what ifs" that anyone could bring up doesn't excuse the actions of the cop because of the facts. It is possible that this cop may have known he was dealing with a dangerous kid. That being the case, after he yelled out "police!" several times he could have stood outside the shed at a safe distance and waited for backup. Don't try to convince everyone that the cop had no choice. There were other choices to his actions. But in the end according to this report, he shot an unarmed minor and all the what if's that you can think of will not change those facts. Like you said, it is what it is.Jimkata - 11/17/2010 2:47 PM
The kid may have been unarmed, but the police or military will teach you that when attempting to apprehend somebody, you assume they have a weapon until proven otherwise. This is how the term "suicide by cop" came to be - you pretend you have a weapon and threaten a police officer - bang - you're dead. Like was mentioned in a previous message, if the kid complied with the officer, he would still be alive. He did not.eltoro67 - 11/17/2010 3:21 PM
Jimkata, what you are saying makes perfect sense....if you have been taught and disciplined by the military but military law is irrelevant here. Clearly this is a civilian matter. Your comment, "you pretend you have a weapon and threaten a police officer - bang - you're dead." How many really young innocent children with toy guns have died because of people like you that really believe this? There are many murderers, sex predators and robbers that have not complied in any way with civilian and military laws. Most of these dangerous convicts fully armed tried to fight their way through police, hurting other people in the process and guess what, alot of them are sitting in jail right now. ALIVE! Many of them have gone back to jail many times, alive. Because police officers used their extensive training and professionalism to properly handle those situations. No, one thing is very clear here, if this teenager was unarmed he did not have to die!cher01 - 11/17/2010 3:29 PM
Something to think about...If this kid was armed, and as bad a human being as everyone is stating, don't you think instead of fist fighting, he would just blow this other person away????Jimkata - 11/17/2010 4:05 PM
Eltoro - I'm not sure what your point is, besides the kid was unarmed. You wanna tell me how the officer was to know the kid was unarmed? I'm not talking about "military law", I am talking about the same procedures that are used by both the military AND the police when taking somebody into custody. I'm not talking about innocent children playing cowboys and indians in the yard either when talking about "suicide by cop". Furthermore, we are not talking about some innocent kid. He had a long criminal record that involves assault. He was involved in another assault (fight), that he fled from. He trespassed, and broke into a storage shed in order to hide from the police. The homeowner called the police to report him. When instructed to come out of the shed, he rushed the officer, hitting him in the face with the shed door. He apparently continued to come at the officer, since he was shot in the chest. These are not things an innocent, "good boy" does. When somebody in law enforcement tells you to do something, you comply. If the officer is wrong, you deal with it later. This kid did not comply, but instead took AGGRESSIVE actions that led to him being shot. It's too bad that it happened, but it was his own fault and not the police officer's.eltoro67 - 11/17/2010 7:49 PM
I thought I made my point clear but I'll try again. The boy was not armed and he was shot dead. You claim it was the boy's fault that he got shot. I do not believe that officers shoot at everyone that charges at them when they are not armed. Again, there are bad people out there that have done worst than this kid and attacked cops with guns and knives and did not get killed. Cops have other means of incapacitating criminals than just shooting at them. You have another cop here saying there were other options. This cop knew he was in the shed. This cop knew he was 14 years old. If the cop did not know that this kid was armed or not why the hell would he risk getting close to the shed where this kid is already trapped in instead of waiting for back up? The kid was trapped and wasn't going anywhere. The cop's statement doesn't even say he killed him in self defense, he only says he was afraid for his life. How much clearer does this need to be? I'll say it again, this kid did not have to die.raisenofool - 11/17/2010 7:52 PM
This kid was kicked out of public school, alternative school, and fighting while skipping out of juvie. That was before attacking a police officer. Now Mom backs him up saying he was a "good kid". What exactly is her definition of a "bad kid"?raisenofool - 11/17/2010 8:08 PM
The officer going into a shed after a perpetrator DOESN'T KNOW whether he is armed or not at the time. Think about it. All of this became the kid's fault the second he chose to run from the officer.wilkim45yes - 11/17/2010 11:39 PM
IGNORANCE runs ramped on this blog. Those of you who are STUPID enough to pursue an individual (AFTER he was assaulting a third part) without their weapon drawn when approaching a HIDDEN THREAT (tool shed) well there you have it. You will join the many Police Officers buried all across America who CHOSE DEATH over a COMPLAINT from a suspect, who CHOSE DEATH over being sued by a suspect. Those type of Officers have no business caring a badge & gun BECAUSE THEY ENDANGER fellow Officers with serious bodily injury and/or death! THOSE OFFICERS READING MY POST KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN, YOU MAY HAVE ONE OF THOSE OFFICERS ON YOUR SHIFT, and you can't wait for him to PROMOTE to get him off the street & behind a desk WHERE HE BELONGS.19kilo - 11/18/2010 1:45 AM
I Dont feel bad that this has happened to this kid. But Something needs to be said about why did this officer use Excessive force? Come on now feared for your life he was 14years old and about what 110pounds soaking wet if you cant detain a person of that size you have no place on the police force? this is one of the many resones some or most people dont like calling the police to Respond to anything but then again its that one that ruins it for the others. Hope killing this boy makes you feel like a man!!! And i like it how people put Police officers on the same Playing feild as Our Service Men and Women just a point i wanted to make have a great day everyone.DunoNuthin - 11/18/2010 7:39 AM
All these "what-ifs..." I'll throw a couple out there. "What if" the kid complied with the officer's orders to halt and surrender? "What if" the kid hadn't lunged at the officer? A bullet hole in the chest is a clear indicatror this kid wasn't running away at the time of the shooting.Jimkata - 11/18/2010 11:32 AM
14 years old is old enough to know better than to do what he did.eltoro67 - 11/18/2010 2:12 PM
Nobody is denying this kid did something wrong. No one is denying this boy committed a crime. We all understand this. What seems to be a problem for some people to understand is that this kid DID NOT HAVE TO DIE. Why is this so difficult to understand? If everyone that commits a crime is treated in the same fashion there would not be a need for detention centers nor jails. This cop knew this kid trapped himself in this shed. He could have waited for backup if he felt this kid could be armed and if he absolutely felt the need to fire why would he shoot to kill instead of shooting him in the arm or the leg when this kid was CLEARLY UNARMED? People that sided with this cop have not even tried to answer any of these questions. The cop knew there was a 14 year old that broke the law hiding in the shed, again he was trapped. Why didn't this cop try to incapacitate this teen instead of killing him? Why didn't he have mace ready? Why didn't he have his baton ready? Why didn't he have a tazer ready? Why didn't he wait for back up? You cannot tell me that an NISD police officer's only option for a weapon is a gun are you? Are these questions too hard or complicated for anyone to answer? More importantly are all of you saying this cop had absolutely no choice but to kill an unarmed teen? Jimkata, DunoNuthin, raisenofool?urdaddy - 11/18/2010 6:01 PM
It's not hard to believe we have alot of morons on earth that show no compassion for human life and make idiotic comments regarding such a tragedy. If the officer was in fear for his life he could of called in for back up. He could of also used an asp or taser to take the teen into custody. If an officer cannot subdue an 8th grader, he should not be in that line of business. What gets me are all the "WHAT IF" comments. Like, "what if" he had a machete, "what if" he had a rake. The reality is the teen had no weapon and was shot. I think alot agree the teen should of not ran and made a bad judgement call. However, we are talking about a teen, the officer was an adult. You would expect the officer to use better judgement. So "what if" the officer used better judgement? The teen would be alive. It's plain in simple, the teen was murdered. I hope the DA files charges against the officer and the family sues. And for all the comments about him becoming a career criminal. I'm shocked to know so many San Antonians are psychic. Since ya'll can predict the future, please provide me with lotto numbers so I can win the lottery. Oh, arguing with Jimkata, DunoNuthin, raisenofool does not good. It's not good to argue with morons because they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.Jimkata - 11/19/2010 9:03 AM
@ urdaddy - so you too are one of those that if others don't see things your way, then they are morons? Saying that I don't care about human life is idiotic. I'll tell you what though, I value the lives of those that are sworn to protect us over those that break the law and cause trouble! Was the kid unarmed? YES. Thank you to the "Captain Hindsights" out there for pointing that out. That fact was not known however until it was too late! As a police officer, you don't have the luxury of hindsight, and you assume the worst until you know otherwise. Period. This city is riddled with 14 year old criminals, gang members, and otherwise, who have no respect for authority, the law, or anybody else other than themselves. Did he have to die? NO, but he made that choice, took that chance, when he rushed the police officer!

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Ursus:
Comments left for the above article, "Officer says he feared for his life when he shot teen" (11/16/2010, News 4 WOAI), #s 61-68:


eltoro67 - 11/19/2010 1:10 PM
Jimkata, you said it yourself, "As a police officer, you don't have the luxury of hindsight, and you assume the worst until you know otherwise. Period." I agree with this statement 100 percent! So why don't you answer any of the questions I asked previously? If the cop assumed the worst why didn't he keep a safe distance and wait for back up? Cops call for back up when they assume the worst isn't this true?! This is common sense. If he feared for his life why did he try to be a hero? THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL! He knew this kid was 14 years old and was involved in a fist fight not with a knife nor a gun. So the only place he could have gotten a weapon would have been from the shed. So why did this cop choose the deadliest weapon at his disposal when he could have used mace, a baton, a tazer? Why are you avoiding these questions? You know very well the cop is responsible for his actions. You know very well the cop had other options and he chose the deadliest one against an unarmed 14 year old. THIS COP SERIOUSLY SCREWED UP AND YOU KNOW IT! You say you value the life of a police officer more than this 14 year old when this kid didn't even have a weapon. A TEENAGER WAS MURDERED and all you can say is he deserved what he got because he was a bad kid . Jimkata, your defense over this cop is pathetic! Like felontracker said, it is what it is.Jimkata - 11/19/2010 2:18 PM
@ eltoro - I wasn't there... apparently you were since you seem to know all of what happened and what should have happened. How do you know he didn't call for backup? How long was the kid hiding in the shed, and how long did it take him to come out? Do we even know that he knew it was this particular kid that was hiding in the building? Why did the officer pull his gun? Because he didn't know if the suspect was armed, and if so what he was armed with. Simple as that. You don't grab a taser when somebody is coming at you with a knife or machete, or even another gun. Yes, the officer is responsible for his actions, and in this case, his actions were appropriate. Nobody was "murdered" here as you say. I'm not saying the kid "got what he deserved because he was a bad kid" - I'm saying respect the laws of society, and those that enforce them and protect us. It makes NO difference that he was 14. It doesn't even make a real difference that he had a police record. It doesn't make a difference that in the end he turned out to be unarmed. What does matter is that a police officer told him to come out of the building, and the kid STUPIDLY ATTACKED A POLICE OFFICER! Live like a thug, die like a thug! This officer WILL be cleared of any wrongdoing, and nothing will bring this kid back. Instead of blaming the officer, why don't you blame those that let him think this kind of behavior was a good thing? I wonder if you would be crying so much if this had been an adult criminal?eltoro67 - 11/19/2010 3:02 PM
My comments are based on this story and what the cop's statement was. He couldn't even say he fired in self defense. A cop with 17 years experience says he fired because he feared for his life from a 14 year old. This kid did not charge at the officer with any weapon. Where is your statement, "you don't grab a tazer when someone is coming at you with a machete, or even another gun." coming from? Why would you even say this if there wasn't a machete involved? So why again did you say the cop didn't pull out a tazer? And you again ignored why he didn't wait for back up. You say he might have called for back up but why didn't he wait AT A SAFE DISTANCE if he feared for his life? Lastly you are saying that the cop had absolutely no other option than to kill this teen? If the cop's actions were appropriate, stop making up excuses for weapons that weren't even there and answer the questions. The comment about an adult criminal is irrelevant here. This kid could have paid for his mistakes through the courts and confinement and he would have also had the opportunity to turn his life around and maybe not, but he would still be alive. Given the circumstances in this case, it is not up to you nor I nor the cops to take that opportunity away from him. Are you avoiding these questions because you are afraid to admit the cop (possibly a friend or relative of yours) was wrong? You know there were other options, as I said before, another cop commented on this already. You know this cop screwed up. Look at the situation clearly and admit the truth otherwise, answer my questions.Jimkata - 11/19/2010 3:22 PM
Eltoro - I have answered your questions, you just won't accept the answer... When somebody is hiding in a building, you don't know who they are, if they are armed, what they are capable of, or what they are planning. Say what you want. The officer will be exonerated.eltoro67 - 11/19/2010 11:35 PM
You sound so sure of yourself but you still don't want to admit there were other options. We shall see.cons3rvative1 - 11/21/2010 12:11 AM
Sure hope the department doesn't try to cover this up. Hope there were other witnesses around that can tell what really happened since the junior high kid was not given that opportunity.eltoro67 - 11/21/2010 6:56 PM
It wouldn't be the first time something like this is covered up nor the last.ferguson - 5/28/2011 3:18 AM
how did the officer know that this kid was a career criminal? did he personally know the kid? and if so i don't think he would shoot him if he did know him. the cops actions were far from appropriate.
            
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Ursus:
San Antonio Express-News

Memorial fund set up for slain teen
Relatives of a 14-year-old fatally shot by a police officer have set up a memorial fund in his name.

By Eva Ruth Moravec
Published 11:32 a.m., Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A memorial fund has been set up for a teen shot to death by a police officer last week.

Derek Lopez, 14, was killed Friday after he reportedly lunged at a Northside Independent School District policeman in a shed in a far West Side backyard.

Relatives have set up an account in Derek's name at IBC Bank, according to Derek's aunt and a bank official.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the account may do so by referencing account number 2411787804.

Visitation for the slain teen is set for Thursday at Puente & Sons Funeral Chapels-Northeast, 14315 Judson Road, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. with a rosary tentatively scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

A graveside service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at San Fernando Catholic Cemetery No. 3. following a procession from Puente & Sons Funeral Chapels Northeast that will depart at 9 a.m.


© 2011 Hearst Communications Inc.

Ursus:
A column from Cary Clack:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

San Antonio Express-News

Cary Clack: Shooting death of boy, 14, not black and white
A sign that a pulse still beats in a community's conscience is that it's troubled and outraged that a 14-year-old is shot to death.

San Antonio Express-News
Published 03:00 a.m., Thursday, November 18, 2010

A sign that a pulse still beats in a community's conscience is that it's troubled and outraged that a 14-year-old is shot to death.

Granted, the outrage isn't a unanimous wave of emotion rising from one direction in support of the teenager and his family. Such a tidal wave of sympathy is reserved for a victim whose innocence was unquestioned and whose actions didn't contribute to his death.

Sadly, for everyone, that wasn't the case with Derek Lopez, the 14-year-old shot and killed last Friday afternoon by a Northside Independent School District police officer.

The officer, Daniel Alvarado, was on patrol when he saw Lopez and another young man fighting at a bus stop outside Northside Alternative School. Lopez eluded Alvarado and ran to a nearby neighborhood where a homeowner, seeing him in her backyard, called 911.

According to a police report, Alvarado approached a storage shed, identified himself as the police and saw Lopez hiding. The teen ran out of the shed, hitting Alvarado in the face with the door. Fearing for his life, the officer shot Lopez in the chest and then performed CPR on the boy.

Predictable in the scores of comments heard and read in the days since the shooting is how some people have retreated to one extreme side of the tragedy, castigating the officer for his use of excessive force, and how others have taken residence in the opposite extreme side, saying that this was a bad kid who got what he deserved.

But isn't it most natural to be torn over this tragedy and to feel conflicted? How can anyone be comfortable in easily condemning these two human beings and not extending sympathy to both?

Of course it would have been better had Alvarado been able to protect himself without firing his gun and if Lopez could have been apprehended without anyone being hurt. It would have also been better had Lopez simply surrendered.

Lopez should have never put Alvarado or himself in that position, but it's wrong for anyone to minimize his death or to mock his family for saying that he was good.

For the past few years he'd been expelled from more schools - bouncing from campus to campus - and had more disciplinary problems than a 14-year-old should. Judge his family later, if you must, but their child just died. Right now, how he died and the questions they must ask themselves aren't as important as the painful fact that their child just died.

And a troubled kid can also be a good kid who's simply lost.

This tragedy has echoes of the April 2001 death of another 14-year-old in San Antonio. That boy was shot and killed by a South Side homeowner early one morning while stealing fighting cocks. Abandoned by his father, the boy would sleep in a white Pontiac Grand Am in front of the house they'd lived in.

The homeowner wasn't charged, and after the shooting there was a scalding debate about whether the boy got what was coming to him.

Neither of these 14-year-olds got what was coming to them or deserved to die, but neither of them had learned to avoid putting themselves in situations that risked their lives. Neither of them had learned that for all the trouble we find ourselves in, if we only stop running and start thinking about where we're going we can change the direction of our lives.

The killing of a 14-year-old, regardless of the circumstances, should rile a community and force it to look at the issues surrounding it so that such as death isn't repeated.

To all the 14-year-olds out there who are running scared, lonely and confused: stop.

The life you save may be your own.

Cary Clack's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. To leave a message, call 210-250-3486 or e-mail at cclack@express-news.net.


© 2011 Hearst Communications Inc.

Ursus:
San Antonio Express-News

NISD shooting probed in context of training
Taught how to deal with juveniles, Officer Daniel Alvarado may not have known he was chasing a 14-year-old.

By Brian Chasnoff
Published 11:28 p.m., Thursday, November 18, 2010

The school district cop who last week chased and shot to death a 14-year-old boy had received the same basic training as any other officer in Texas on when he could seek an arrest without a warrant or use deadly force.

Officer Daniel Alvarado also received the same training as his colleagues in district policy, including the best ways to interact with teenagers and when to draw his weapon.

Whether Alvarado's decisions to pursue the unarmed student into a back yard and draw his weapon, firing it after the teen burst from a shed, were lawful or appropriate are questions that are moving into sharper focus as the San Antonio Police Department investigates.

Alvarado, 45, an officer with the Northside Independent School District, pursued Derek Lopez after he saw the teenager hit someone else after school at a bus stop. He fired when the shed door struck him in the face.

"He should have waited for backup," said Denys Lopez Moreno, the teen's mother. "What was the hurry for all that? He could have waited for (Derek) to calm down."

Christopher Moreno, the teen's father, cited the boy's age.

"He's a little kid," Moreno said. "There are other procedures they can go through, talking a 14-year-old kid out of the shed."

But Alvarado didn't realize Lopez was so young, said an SAPD source close to the investigation but unauthorized to speak to the media.

Alvarado claimed after the shooting that Lopez's size - 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds - was deceptive.

"He thought Derek was much older," the source said.

Training standards

The standards for becoming a peace officer are the same whether it's for a school district or a municipality.

All aspiring cops must complete 618 hours of training certified by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, including 24 hours in "arrest, search and seizure" and 24 more in "force options."

Then they must pass an exam.

Alvarado passed, and joined the Leon Valley Police Department in 1993 before joining NISD 10 months later.

School district Police Chief John Page said his officers are trained in state law.

"I think the protection of life is probably the foremost goal," he said.

Once licensed and hired, officers must take 40 hours of continuing education every two years. Any agency can choose to require training beyond that.

"Certainly academies can set higher standards than what we require," said Laura LeBlanc, spokeswoman for the state standards commission.

At NISD, three additional courses are required: active shooter response, crisis intervention and "dealing with juveniles," said Pascual Gonzalez, the district's spokesman.

"What is their emotional state of mind? How mature are they?" Gonzalez said. Juveniles are "not thinking the way you and I think as an adult."

Shot fired

Page would not comment on last Friday's shooting. But the chief became agitated when reminded of a version of events contained in an SAPD report.

The report states Alvarado arrived at the bus stop "a moment or two" after Lopez struck someone there "with the back of his hand."

"That is a misnomer," Page said. "That is not correct."

Officers in Texas may not arrest someone without a warrant unless the person commits an offense in the officer's presence, the offense is a felony, or it's "against the public peace."

Striking someone with the hand is generally a misdemeanor.

"If the misdemeanor didn't occur in your presence, then the officer is not supposed to make an arrest without a warrant," said Chris Davis, director of the enforcement and legal division at the state standards commission.

But the SAPD source disputes the police report.

"It happened right in his view," the source said. "The officer basically pulled up on them when they started fighting."

Lopez ran into a neighborhood, where Alvarado lost sight of him. A witness flagged down the officer and said someone had trespassed into a neighbor's back yard in the 200 block of Roswell Canyon.

In the back yard, Alvarado drew his weapon before he reached the storage shed, the SAPD source said.

NISD policy states, "An officer shall not unholster and prepare to discharge his firearm except as a last resort when there is a danger of loss of life or serious bodily injury to the officer or to another person."

Deadly force is authorized only when such danger becomes "imminent."

Denys Lopez Moreno, the teen's mother, sobbed while imagining the scenario.

"What was the purpose for having the gun out?" she asked. Derek "was scared. He didn't want to get in trouble."

Gun drawn, Alvarado reached the shed and peered inside. Lopez lunged through the shed's doorway, causing the door to strike the officer in the face.

Alvarado fired a shot into the boy's torso.

Lopez died. The officer, according to the police report, suffered "pain and swelling to the lips."


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