Oakland Police Department names 5 officers in fatal April shooting of suspect in Richmond
24-year-old kidnap suspect Juan Ayon-Barraza of Vallejo.
OAKLAND, Calif. - The names of five Oakland police officers involved in the fatal April 16 shooting of a kidnap and attempted murder suspect were released Friday by the Oakland Police Department.
The officers and their length of service with the department are
Officer Michael Finnicum, 14 years; Officer Kyle Gaskin, five years; Officer Benjamin Sarno,12 years; Officer Roberto Recendez, five years; and Officer Matthew Hohn, three years.
The Oakland officers and an officer from the Richmond Police
Department fired at 24-year-old kidnap suspect Juan Ayon-Barraza of Vallejo as he allegedly pointed a firearm at them while attempting to escape after a chase from Oakland to Richmond.
Ayon-Barraza was a suspect in an attempted murder of a 29-year-old woman who had been reported missing in Vallejo that evening.
Concerned family members reported that the woman was last seen at 7:35 a.m. in the 900 block of Kentucky Street in Vallejo with Ayon-Barraza.
The victim told family members she was going to have breakfast
with him, but a short time later Ayon-Barraza called the victim's family and made an "unsettling comment," Vallejo police said.
The victim's family contacted Ayon-Barraza in person at 8 a.m. and confronted him in an attempt to find out where the victim was, but he was evasive with the family and fled.
That same day at 6:45 p.m., the Oakland Police Department, the
Moraga Police Department and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office responded to a 911 call reporting a body being abandoned on the side of the road in the area of Pinehurst Road and Skyline Boulevard along the border of Contra Costa and Alameda counties in unincorporated Moraga, according to the Richmond Police Department.
The woman was found suffering from at least one gunshot wound and was unresponsive. Investigators determined she was the same woman reported missing earlier from Vallejo.
The woman was hospitalized and remains in critical condition at
last report.
A witness described the suspect vehicle involved in the incident
as a white Chevrolet Astro van. Responding officers from Moraga located the vehicle and attempted to pull it over, but the vehicle did not stop, police said, and a 20-minute pursuit ensued into Oakland and then Richmond.
Richmond police said the suspect traveled to the area of South
37th Street and Stege Avenue, where he pointed a firearm in the direction of officers while making a U-turn at South 37th Street and Carlson Boulevard.
Multiple Oakland and Richmond police officers shot at the suspect
in response, according to police.
The vehicle then crossed over into traffic on Stege Avenue and hit
an Oakland police car as two officers were exiting their vehicle, according to police. The suspect suffered a fatal gunshot wound and died at the scene.
Two Oakland police officers were injured when the suspect's van
crashed into their police vehicle. The officers were hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life threatening, police said.
The Richmond Police Department is the primary investigating agency in the case, which is also being investigated by the Vallejo and Moraga police departments, the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department, the Contra Costa County Crime Lab and the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office.