Fatal Deputy-Involved Shooting In Joshua Tree: No Criminal Charges
JOSHUA TREE, CA — A two-year-long state investigation into a fatal deputy-involved shooting in Joshua Tree is now complete, and it recommends no criminal charges against law enforcement.
"This was a tragic situation with a tragic outcome," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said last week when he released the
Thirty-four-year-old Samuel Arredondo's death by a deputy's bullets occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m. on January 11, 2023.
On the night of the shooting, a woman, whose identity was not released, returned to her Joshua Tree home on Oleander Drive. She got out of her vehicle and was approached by her next-door neighbor. The two chatted briefly and then headed back to their respective homes.
It was at that point that Arredondo appeared outside and attempted to speak to the woman. She didn't know him, according to the report.
"Hi baby. Hi baby," Arredondo allegedly said to her. "Do you want me to come in and f#@* you?"
"No, that's okay," the woman responded. "You can stay there."
The woman got inside her home, turned on her alarm system, called her boyfriend, and then 911.
"I don't know exactly who he is," the woman told the 911 dispatcher. "But he's definitely, he's either on drugs, or he's drinking, or something."
While waiting for help to arrive, the woman heard Arredondo walking back and forth along her front porch near her front window and door, according to the report.
"Oh, she locked the door," she heard Arredondo say.
He pulled on the screen door and rang the doorbell multiple times, the report alleges.
Meanwhile, the woman's boyfriend showed up at the home. He had called 911 and told the dispatcher he was armed with a Glock.
He spotted Arredondo on his girlfriend's front porch. He didn't know him, the report states.
The boyfriend stayed in his vehicle, greeted Arredondo, and asked what he was doing there.
The response made no sense.
"I'm at my wife's house," Arredondo allegedly responded.
The boyfriend later described Arredondo's movements as the way "somebody who's on drugs would walk," according to the report.
The boyfriend told 911 dispatchers, "He's trying to get into her house. I'm gonna shoot him. He's tryin' to get into my girlfriend's house. And he's trying to use rocks in the yard to do it."
No shots were fired, but Arredondo allegedly became more agitated.
"You are dead. You are a slut," Arredondo allegedly continued. "And our son is dead, too."
As the first San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy arrived at the scene, Arredondo was allegedly trying to enter the woman's home.
"Hey, put your hands up," the deputy commanded.
Arredondo did not comply. Instead, he turned toward the deputy and raised his hands while holding a
black object, and allegedly yelled, "Die."
"I was in fear for my life…," the deputy later recounted, "I was scared because I thought he was literally going to kill me."
The deputy fired on Arredondo, but did not appear to strike him.
A second sheriff's deputy arrived at the scene, and it was during that timeframe that Arredondo hurled himself into the woman's home via a window he had broken.
While inside the home, deputies could see Arredondo repeatedly popping up on the bottom right corner of the window. He was "in a shooting stance," with "both of his hands in front of his face" and an object that appeared to be a firearm, according to the deputies' recounting.
"Let me see your hands," the second deputy shouted twice.
Arredondo allegedly did not comply.
The second deputy fired three rounds, then two more.
"Shots fired" were broadcast over the police radio.
The second deputy later told investigators, "I was in fear that I was going to get shot and die." The deputy said he was lacking a place to gain cover and "felt that I was completely exposed to him."
Within minutes after the shots were fired, the deputies forced entry through the home's front door. They found Arredondo face down on the floor and handcuffed him. First responders quickly arrived and pronounced him dead at the scene.
The woman, who was hiding in a closet, was found uninjured.
Arredondo was never armed, according to the report. Instead, a black remote control was found at the scene.
A coroner's report later revealed Arredondo suffered two bullet wounds to the chest and one to his arm. The coroner concluded that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso; death occurred within minutes.
A toxicology report showed amphetamine, methamphetamine, Delta-9 Carboxy THC, Delta-9 THC, and Ephedrine were present in Arredondo's system.
As part of its investigation into the fatal shooting, the California Department of Justice made five policy recommendations to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
The first is that the sheriff's department updates its dispatcher communications policy to ensure that details from a reporting party are communicated in real-time to deputies, including the location of a victim. Dispatch had the woman on the line during the shooting, which could have provided the deputies with information about their field of fire, according to the report.
During the shooting, the woman told investigators that a bullet breezed over her head.
The second recommendation is to require that deputies involved in shootings be separated before being questioned.
"This revision will prevent deputies from discussing the incident with each other prior to their attorney consultation and interview with Homicide Detail investigators," according to the recommendation.
The third recommendation calls for revising the sheriff's department policy to ensure that witnesses refrain from speaking or communicating with one another about an incident until after they have provided their statements to law enforcement.
"This addition to the policy will help preserve each witness' recollection of the incident and will ensure that their statements are based on their own personal knowledge, free of hearsay and influence," the recommendation states.
The final recommendations include the installation of digital in-car video systems in police vehicles and updating deputies' body-worn camera policies.
A copy of the DOJ's report can be found
