SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) The family of a 19-year-old man killed by police last month in San Francisco's Mission District during a robbery investigation met with District Attorney George Gascon on Wednesday.
Jesus Adolfo Delgado-Duarte was killed on March 6 when officers responding to an alleged robbery encountered him hiding in the trunk of a Honda Civic near Capp and 21st streets.
Delgado-Duarte allegedly shot at officers, prompting 10 of them to open fire, shooting a total of 99 rounds at him and striking him about 25 times, according to police.
A spokeswoman for Delgado-Duarte's family, Susana Rojas, said while Delgado-Duarte's death remains under investigation, Gascon discussed with the family the legalities of police shootings.
"The way the law is now, in the last seconds, if the police has reason to believe that they are in danger, they have the right to shoot," Rojas said.
"They didn't say that's what happened (in this case) ... it's still under investigation. But that's what they have to look at, if they had a legitimate fear for their lives," she said.
Rojas said that in the meantime, Delgado-Duarte's family is focusing their efforts on state legislation introduced this week that would limit or restrict when officers can use lethal force.
Assembly Bill 931, introduced by Assemblymembers Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, and Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, was spurred in part by the death of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man fatally shot by Sacramento police last month.
"AB 931 would authorize police to only use deadly force when necessary to prevent unnecessary loss of life, increase police accountability of our law enforcement and provide justice for families across California," McCarty said of the bill on social media Tuesday.
The San Francisco Police Department has sought to reform its use-of-force policies in recent years and has made some progress with the Police Commission voting in 2016 to prohibit the use of carotid restraints and firing at moving vehicles. In addition, last month the commission
approved a policy for the use of Taser stun guns by officers.
Delgado-Duarte's family says they don't want another family to experience what they've experienced.
"So that Adolfo's death is not vain, I'm asking for everyone's support. We have to go to Sacramento and we have to make a change," Rojas said.
"Without that, they will keep killing. They will keep saying that they felt scared and they will keep shooting a hundred or more bullets at our people," she said.
The March 6 shooting unfolded when two people said they had been robbed at gunpoint by the occupants of a black Honda Civic. After locating a vehicle matching that description near Capp and 21st streets around 10:35 p.m., officers ordered all of the Honda's occupants out.
Victor Navarro-Flores, 19, eventually exited the driver's seat and officers detained him and later arrested him on suspicion of robbery.
Officers then ordered Delgado-Duarte out of a halfway-open trunk, where he was hiding. After yelling several commands at him, first in English and then in Spanish, officers fired a beanbag round at him.
A short time later, Delgado-Duarte fired a gun from inside the trunk. In response, the 10 officers fired their weapons at him, killing him, according to police.
After the shooting, an 18-year-old woman who was still inside the car was ordered out and detained. She was apparently uninjured.
Police said officers recovered a 9mm handgun from the Honda's trunk.
The officers who fired their weapons have since been identified as Stephen Cassinelli, Corbyn Carroll, Loren Chiu, John Ishida, Juan Gustilo, Nicholas Nagai, Sean O'Rourke, Colby Smets, Ari Smith-Russack and Joshua Tupper, according to police. Police did not say how long each of the officers
has been with the department.