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Cristian Alexis Arriola Gomez

Age : 24

Gender : Male

Race : Latino/a/e

Date : 08/17/2022

Location : 17300 block of Sherman Way

City : Lake Balboa

County : Los Angeles

State : California

Agency : Los Angeles Police Department

Officer(s) :Jeffrey Smith; Derrick Quals; Jennifer Pastrana; Daniil Rulin

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during drug investigation

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/17/2022, Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to an alley near Sherman Way and Andasol Avenue in the Lake Balboa area after a woman called 911 about Cristian Alexis Arriola Gomez, 24. The later Los Angeles County District Attorney investigation established that the original police dispatch specifically reported a man smoking an unknown narcotic from a pipe who had a machete and “has not threatened anyone.” The caller said Gomez had been near the rear gate of her family’s property. The call was assigned to Officers Jennifer Pastrana and Derrick Quals, who arrived approximately 43 minutes after it was broadcast.
According to the District Attorney's reconstruction, Pastrana and Quals encountered Gomez riding a bicycle with a machete. Their body-camera footage showed officers ordering him to get off the bicycle and leave the machete. Gomez got off the bicycle, picked up the machete and said he did not want to talk to them. Pastrana told investigators that Gomez was speaking incoherently and moving the machete while approaching the officers. Quals drew his gun and repeatedly ordered Gomez to drop the machete. Motorcycle Officer Daniil Rulin arrived to assist. Gomez then returned to his bicycle and rode away while Pastrana and Quals followed in their police SUV and Rulin followed on his motorcycle.
Pastrana switched from her handgun to a less-lethal beanbag shotgun. The officers continued ordering Gomez over the police vehicle's public-address system to get off the bicycle and drop the machete. According to the DA review, officers became concerned when Gomez approached the Valley Waldorf City School, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school across Sherman Way, where children and parents were present. Pastrana drove the police SUV ahead of Gomez in an attempt to divert him away from pedestrians. Gomez rode past the SUV and turned back into the alley where the encounter had begun.
Valley Traffic Division Police Officer II Jeffrey Smith, serial number 33504, had responded to the officers' request for assistance and followed Gomez into the alley. Smith stopped his patrol car approximately 20 feet from Gomez at about 7:49:25 a.m. The DA's review of Smith's body-camera and in-car video states that Gomez got off his bicycle, turned toward Smith and approached the driver's side of Smith's patrol car while holding the machete. Smith initially started to open his door, then shut it and attempted to move the police car backward. He drew his handgun as Gomez reached the driver's side of the vehicle.
The DA's frame-by-frame timeline placed the shooting at approximately 7:49:31 a.m. The DA reported that Gomez came within approximately three feet of the driver's-side window and raised the machete at roughly a 45-degree angle. Smith fired twice from inside the patrol car. One bullet struck Gomez in the left chest. Gomez turned and ran about 60 feet down the alley before collapsing at approximately 7:49:39 a.m. Pastrana, Quals and Rulin reached the location at essentially the same time Smith fired.
Smith did not request paramedics until approximately 7:51:38, nearly two minutes after Gomez collapsed. Pastrana handcuffed Gomez and Quals placed him in a recovery position. Gomez became unresponsive approximately seven minutes after the shooting, at which point Quals began CPR. Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics arrived at approximately 8:01 a.m., roughly 12 minutes after the shooting, and transported Gomez to Northridge Hospital Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at 8:24 a.m.
A significant later disclosure concerned the officers' conduct while Gomez lay mortally wounded. LAPD Chief Michel Moore's internal report revealed that Smith and Quals joked about overtime generated by the shooting while standing over Gomez. This conversation had not been included in LAPD's originally released critical-incident video. The Los Angeles Times reported in August 2023 that the remarks surfaced through the department's subsequent investigation. The DA's own 2024 report independently documented the exchange in a footnote, stating that while Gomez was lying on his side in the recovery position, Quals and Smith joked about whether they would be required to use personal time rather than overtime because of the shooting.
Chief Moore ultimately determined that Smith's shooting was within LAPD policy because Smith faced what the department considered an imminent threat from the machete. Moore nevertheless identified tactical problems with the officers' handling of the incident and specifically concluded that Smith should have provided basic medical assistance to Gomez rather than leaving him bleeding while waiting for paramedics. LAPD also opened an investigation into the officers' overtime comments.
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner Dr. Dennis Rhee finalized Gomez's autopsy report on 02/03/2023. The bullet entered the left side of Gomez's chest, traveled from left to right, front to back and slightly upward, damaging his heart, liver and right lung. There was no exit wound; the bullet was recovered from the right side of his back. The medical examiner classified the death as a homicide caused by a penetrating gunshot wound of the left chest.
Toxicology testing finalized on 01/20/2023 detected methamphetamine, amphetamine and THC in Gomez's blood. LAPD processed 73 items of evidence. Investigators recovered a machete with a 17¾-inch blade and serrated spine, a glass pipe and 0.61 grams of white powder that tested positive for methamphetamine.
LAPD's Force Investigation Division submitted its investigative materials to the Los Angeles County District Attorney on 08/24/2023. The package included body-camera recordings, police-vehicle video, investigative reports, witness interviews and recordings, crime-scene diagrams, the autopsy and toxicology reports. The DA stated that any compelled statement Smith may have given to LAPD was not considered in its criminal review.
On 07/25/2024, nearly two years after Gomez was killed, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Justice System Integrity Division completed its criminal review. The DA concluded that Smith acted in lawful self-defense and would not face criminal prosecution. Prosecutors determined that Smith reasonably believed deadly force was necessary when Gomez approached within approximately three feet of his open driver's-side window while holding and raising the machete. The case was identified as JSID File No. 22-0281 and LAPD File No. F044-22.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/lapd-body-cam-footage-shows-fatal-shooting-of-machete-wielding-man/
https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/officer-involved-shooting-in-west-valley-division-nrf044-22bb/
https://www.lapdonline.org/office-of-the-chief-of-police/professional-standards-bureau/critical-incident-videos/2022-o-i-s-shootings-and-critical-incidents/
https://da.lacounty.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/JSID-OIS-07-25-24-Gomez.pdf
https://da.lacounty.gov/reports/ois/2024
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-02/lapd-officers-caught-joking-about-earning-overtime-after-shooting-someone
https://homicide.latimes.com/post/cristian-alexis-arriola-gomez/