Death by Cop 2021-2025
Search fatalities
You can use any or all of the fields to refine the search.
Albert AJ Ruiz Perez
Age : 32
Gender : Male
Race : Latino/a/e
Date : 08/29/2021
Location : 16500 Zenda Street
City : San Bernardino
County : San Bernardino
State : California
Agency : San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office
Officer(s) :Cory McCarthy; David Moore; Cristina Olivas; Andrew Pollick
Cause of Death : Gunshot
Event : Killed by police during mental health crisis
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :
On 08/29/2021, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to a residence on Zenda Street in Victorville after a woman and her mother called 911 about 32-year-old Albert “AJ” Ruiz Perez Jr. According to the later District Attorney investigation, Perez and the woman had been arguing in her garage when she alleged that Perez produced a handgun. She told dispatchers that Perez appeared to believe people were after him. The women went inside, locked the door and called police.
Deputy Steven Carter was the first deputy to encounter Perez in the garage. Carter reported seeing Perez holding a handgun and repeatedly ordered him to put it down. Additional deputies arrived and established positions around the open garage. Deputies alleged that Perez remained seated behind a pool table holding the handgun and communicated very little with them. Deputy Julian Mata, who had crisis-intervention training, spent more than three hours attempting to communicate with Perez and persuade him to put the gun down.
As the barricade continued, deputies evacuated nearby residents and staged medical personnel. The Sheriff’s Department eventually deployed its Specialized Enforcement Division, including crisis negotiators and tactical deputies. Deputy Anthony Alcala, a trained crisis negotiator, continued attempts to establish communication with Perez. Specialized Enforcement Division personnel included Sgt. Lucas Gaytan, Corporals Gregory Gary and Cory McCarthy and Deputies David Moore, Cristina Olivas, Andrew Pollick and Joshua Stone.
After approximately four hours, Perez placed the handgun on the garage floor near the pool table and began walking toward deputies. Police accounts state that Perez stopped in the middle of the garage rather than continuing forward. Sgt. Gaytan ordered him to get onto the ground so deputies could detain and search him. Perez then stepped backward in the direction of the handgun. Deputies Joshua Stone and Gaytan fired less-lethal impact projectiles at Perez.
Police alleged that after the less-lethal rounds struck him, Perez turned and ran approximately 15 feet back toward the handgun. At that point Corporal Cory McCarthy and Deputies David Moore, Cristina Olivas and Andrew Pollick opened fire. Their subsequent accounts differed somewhat in their precise observations: Moore said Perez was three to five feet from the gun when he fired; Olivas estimated two to three feet; Pollick said Perez was still a couple of yards away and facing away from him when he opened fire; McCarthy reported seeing Perez bend down and reach toward the weapon.
The four deputies fired numerous rounds. Moore reported firing five rounds. Olivas fired three. Pollick estimated firing five to eight rounds in an initial volley and another five to eight rounds after Perez disappeared behind the pool table. McCarthy fired multiple volleys from his rifle, including additional rounds after Perez was behind the pool table because McCarthy believed he saw a muzzle flash and thought Perez was shooting at deputies. Pollick similarly reported hearing what he believed were pistol rounds and fired a second volley at Perez’s exposed legs.
No available recording captured the actual fatal shooting. The District Attorney's later review states that belt recordings were examined and that two AXON recordings from a Rialto Police Department K-9 officer were available, but neither video captured the lethal-force encounter. Investigators recovered a loaded Smith & Wesson M&P .45 Shield handgun from the garage. Its serial number had been obliterated.
Deputies provided medical treatment after the shooting and transported Perez to a hospital, where he died. An autopsy documented multiple gunshot wounds involving his head, abdomen, right arm, right thigh and both legs, together with additional ricochet and projectile-fragment injuries. The medical examiner determined that the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds. Toxicology subsequently detected methamphetamine and amphetamine. The District Attorney's investigation reported that Perez had no known adult criminal history.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office did not complete its public review until 2024, more than two years after Perez was killed. The office identified all four shooting deputies and concluded that McCarthy, Moore, Olivas and Pollick were legally justified in using deadly force. No criminal charges were filed against them.
Corporal Cory McCarthy had previously killed another person while working for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. On 11/19/2019, McCarthy fatally shot Jacob Scott Cato during a SWAT barricade in Yucca Valley. The San Bernardino County District Attorney subsequently ruled McCarthy’s killing of Cato legally justified. McCarthy also participated in the tactical response to the September 2020 Joshua Beedie shooting incident in Lucerne Valley.
SOURCE LINKS :
https://fatalencounters.org/cases/albert-aj-ruiz-perez/
https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/news/crime/2021/08/30/sheriffs-deputies-shoot-kill-man-after-standoff-victorville/
https://abc7.com/victorville-shooting-san-bernardino-county-sheriffs-department-deputy-involved/10997860/
https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/news/2021/09/02/menifee-man-shot-killed-sheriffs-deputies-victorville-after-standoff-involved-swat-team/5702580001/
https://da.sbcounty.gov/2024/04/02/officer-involved-shooting-fatal-victorville-perez-a/
