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Agustin Flores Sanchez

Age : 41

Gender : Male

Race : Latino/a/e

Date : 08/31/2022

Location : 9200 block of Graham Avenue, near 92nd Street; outside ReConserve of California, 9112 Graham Avenue

City : Los Angeles

County : Los Angeles

State : California

Agency : Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

Officer(s) :asen Tapia; Timothy Garcia; Julio Chavez-Ruiz; Raymond Romero-Soto

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during response to reported disturbance at business

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/31/2022, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputies Jasen Tapia, Timothy Garcia, Julio Chavez-Ruiz and Raymond Romero-Soto shot and killed 41-year-old Agustin Flores Sanchez in the Florence-Firestone area of South Los Angeles. Four deputies fired a combined 58 rounds, producing 38 gunshot wound tracks in Flores Sanchez's body. His mother subsequently filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit challenging the police account and use of deadly force. Los Angeles County ultimately agreed to pay $250,000 to settle the case.
At approximately 6:40 a.m., an employee at ReConserve of California called 911 and reported a man with a machete threatening employees. Deputies located Flores Sanchez sitting inside a white pickup truck parked along Graham Avenue. LASD records indicate that Flores Sanchez spoke Spanish, and deputies gave commands to him in Spanish.
Deputies Jasen Tapia and Raymond Romero-Soto approached the driver's side of the truck with their guns drawn. According to the subsequent district attorney investigation, the deputies opened the driver's door and attempted to forcibly remove Flores Sanchez. Police reported that a physical struggle followed and alleged that Flores Sanchez punched and kicked the deputies. Tapia reported that Flores Sanchez struck him in the eye, fracturing his orbital socket and briefly causing him to black out.
The deputies backed away from the truck and additional LASD personnel arrived. Police reported that Flores Sanchez subsequently emerged holding a metal butane torch bottle and a large blade described in official records as a 26-inch machete or sword.
Rather than immediately firing live ammunition, deputies deployed several less-lethal weapons. One deputy fired a 40mm foam baton round that apparently struck Flores Sanchez in the chest. Another deputy fired a stun-bag shotgun. A second 40mm foam baton round was fired and apparently struck him in the chest, and a Taser was also deployed. Two Taser darts were later recovered from his clothing during the autopsy.
The district attorney's later reconstruction determined that only approximately five seconds elapsed between the first 40mm less-lethal round being fired and the beginning of the movement that police characterized as Flores Sanchez charging the deputies.
Police alleged that Flores Sanchez advanced toward the deputies while holding the blade. Tapia, Garcia, Chavez-Ruiz and Romero-Soto then simultaneously opened fire.
The scale of the gunfire was established conclusively by the later forensic investigation. The four deputies fired 58 rounds: Timothy Garcia fired 18; Raymond Romero-Soto fired 18; Jasen Tapia fired 16; and Julio Chavez-Ruiz fired six. Garcia emptied his magazine, reloaded and then held Flores Sanchez at gunpoint after he had fallen.
The autopsy documented 38 separate gunshot wound tracks — 21 through Flores Sanchez's torso and 17 through his extremities. Twenty projectiles were recovered from his body. The medical examiner determined that he died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Flores Sanchez's family strongly contested the official justification for the shooting. In December 2022, his mother, Gloria Sanchez Gallegos, sued Los Angeles County and Deputies Tapia, Romero-Soto, Garcia and Chavez-Ruiz, alleging civil-rights violations, assault and battery and negligence.
The family's version differed significantly from LASD's presentation of the encounter. The lawsuit alleged that although Flores Sanchez possessed a machete, he did not use it unlawfully and became frightened after approximately nine deputies surrounded him with guns drawn and began shouting commands. According to the complaint, he retreated into his truck rather than advancing aggressively toward police.
The lawsuit alleged that the passenger side of the truck was blocked by a chain-link fence, leaving Flores Sanchez effectively surrounded. His mother contended that he came out of the truck when deputies ordered him to do so and was then subjected to a barrage of gunfire that the complaint characterized as resembling a firing squad. The family argued that the number of deputies present and Flores Sanchez's position near the truck undermined the contention that firing dozens of rounds was necessary.
Body-worn cameras captured the encounter. The later criminal investigation also included surveillance video, 911 recordings, police radio traffic, witness interviews, crime-scene evidence, medical records, photographs and voluntary statements from the four deputies who fired.
A particularly significant development emerged from Los Angeles County's own later review of the case. In a corrective-action report prepared in connection with the family's lawsuit, the county identified as a departmental root cause the deputies' failure to recognize Flores Sanchez as an armed, barricaded person whose circumstances warranted notification of the Sheriff's Special Enforcement Bureau.
That finding is important because it addresses police tactics before the final seconds of the encounter rather than limiting the review to whether deputies believed they were threatened at the instant they fired. The county's corrective-action plan called for continued tactical and use-of-force training and specifically discussed procedures concerning reaching into vehicles and critical calls for service.
On 05/20/2024, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Justice System Integrity Division completed its criminal review. Prosecutors concluded that Tapia, Garcia, Chavez-Ruiz and Romero-Soto reasonably believed deadly force was necessary to protect themselves and others from an imminent deadly threat and therefore declined to prosecute them.
The family's civil case produced a different kind of resolution. In May 2024, the Los Angeles County Claims Board recommended settling Gloria Sanchez Gallegos v. County of Los Angeles et al., Case No. 2:23-cv-00112, for $250,000, including attorneys' fees and costs. County Counsel stated that settlement would avoid the risks, uncertainties and additional costs of litigation. The payment came from the Sheriff's Department budget.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Jasen Tapia had already participated in another fatal LASD shooting years before Flores Sanchez was killed. On 12/12/2015, Tapia and Deputy Richard Ochoa-Garcia shot and killed 28-year-old Nicholas Robertson in Lynwood. Tapia had joined LASD in April 2007. An eyewitness video of the Robertson shooting showed deputies continuing to fire after Robertson fell and appeared to be crawling away.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney subsequently ruled Tapia and Ochoa-Garcia's killing of Robertson legally justified. Thus, Flores Sanchez was at least the second person Tapia is publicly documented as having shot and killed as an LASD deputy.
In the Flores Sanchez shooting, Tapia fired 16 of the 58 rounds. He reported that Flores Sanchez had fractured his orbital socket during their earlier physical struggle and said he fired when Flores Sanchez later advanced with the machete.
Timothy Garcia fired 18 rounds, tying Romero-Soto for the largest number fired by any of the four deputies. Garcia emptied his service pistol's magazine and reloaded during the shooting. No separate reliably documented prior fatal shooting involving Garcia was located.
Raymond Romero-Soto also fired 18 rounds. He reported injuries to his shoulders, wrists and lower back from the earlier struggle with Flores Sanchez. No separate reliably documented prior fatal shooting involving Romero-Soto was located.
Julio Chavez-Ruiz fired six rounds. No separate reliably documented prior fatal shooting involving Chavez-Ruiz was located.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/man-with-machete-fatally-shot-deputies-florence-firestone/
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-31/sheriffs-deputies-shoot-and-kill-man-allegedly-armed-with-machete-in-south-los-angeles
https://lasd.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Transparency__083122_CEN_DIS_Flores_Agustin_Summary_10042.pdf
https://da.lacounty.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/JSID-OIS-05-20-24-Flores.pdf
https://da.lacounty.gov/reports/ois/2024
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/ca/california/public-safety/2022/12/25/woman-sues-la-county-over-fatal-shooting-of-son-by-deputies
https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/california/cacdce/2%3A2023cv00112/872172/14/0.pdf
https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/190864.pdf
https://homicide.latimes.com/post/agustin-sanchez/
https://homicide.latimes.com/post/sheriffs-department-deputies-identified-shootings/
https://da.lacounty.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/JSID_OIS_04_2017_Robertson.pdf