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Sandra Barajas

Age : 32

Gender : Female

Race : Latino/a/e

Date : 09/25/2021

Location : 2000 Oxford Street

City : Delano

County : Kern

State : California

Agency : Delano Police Department

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during domestic disturbance call

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/25/2021, a Delano Police Department officer shot and killed 32-year-old Sandra Ortiz Barajas at a home in the 2000 block of Oxford Street after police responded to a reported verbal disturbance involving Barajas and an eight-year-old girl.
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Dispatch received the call at approximately 9:15 a.m. Police said responding officers were told that Barajas had a knife and was threatening to stab the child inside the residence.
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According to Delano police, officers approached the house, heard yelling and looked through a window. Police alleged that they saw Barajas dragging the eight-year-old girl through the residence while using a knife in a threatening manner.
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Police said an officer opened the window and then fired at Barajas. She was struck by police gunfire and died at the scene. The child suffered injuries and was transported to a hospital in stable condition.
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The publicly released police account left significant questions about the precise moment deadly force was used. Initial reporting did not explain how far Barajas and the child were from the officer, whether Barajas was actively attempting to stab the girl at the moment the officer fired, how many shots the officer fired, or whether officers attempted another means of intervention before opening the window and shooting.
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The Kern County Sheriff’s Office took over the investigation because a Delano police officer fired the fatal shots.
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Barajas’ family immediately challenged the police handling of the encounter and demanded additional information. Her sister, Rosalinda Ortiz, said the family was struggling to understand why police killed her rather than finding another way to intervene. The family questioned whether officers could have used a Taser or another less-lethal method and wanted to see video and other evidence showing exactly what happened inside the home.
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Family members also described Barajas as having struggled with substance use and said her behavior had changed. They did not deny that a serious disturbance had occurred but questioned whether deadly force was necessary and asked police to provide evidence supporting the official account. Their response is important because it did not simply reject every allegation made by police; rather, the family specifically challenged the decision to shoot and demanded a fuller explanation of what officers confronted.
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Later toxicology information concerning Barajas does not resolve the central use-of-force question: what the officer saw and what immediate threat existed at the instant the officer fired. The Kern County Sheriff’s investigation and any associated body-camera, witness and forensic evidence are therefore particularly important to independently evaluating the shooting.
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No encounter-related wrongful-death or federal civil-rights lawsuit filed by Barajas’ family was identified in the later public record reviewed for this update.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Delano Police Department officer who shot Sandra Ortiz Barajas has not been publicly identified in the readily accessible reporting located for this update.
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The lack of an officer identity is particularly significant because Delano Police Department had already faced serious and substantiated excessive-force and civil-rights litigation before Barajas was killed.Delano police had also previously faced federal litigation arising from a fatal police shooting. Reserve Officer Jose Mejia shot and killed Ruben Mesa Morales, leading Morales’ family to sue the City of Delano, Mejia and other officers under federal civil-rights law. The litigation included disputed evidence concerning the circumstances under which Mejia fired and allegations concerning municipal responsibility for officer conduct.
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Thus, by the time a Delano officer killed Barajas in 2021, the department had already faced both fatal-force litigation and a recent ACLU civil-rights lawsuit over officers using force against people recording police. The latter case resulted in an affirmative settlement requiring additional constitutional-rights training.
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The unanswered identity of Barajas’ shooter prevents the same individual-level review that can be performed when an officer is named.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/family-of-woman-shot-and-killed-in-delano-knife-point-ois-wants-answers-from-police
https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/delano-police-shooting-woman-killed-after-threatening-juvenile/
https://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/woman-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-in-delano
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-27/delano-police-shooting-woman-killed
https://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/city-of-delano-reaches-settlement-in-use-of-force-lawsuit
https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914f4bcadd7b04934987395