MADERA COUNTY – Sunday afternoon a California Highway Patrol officer shot an unarmed man on Avenue 12 just behind the Branch & Vine Barn, an event venue where a kids party attended by approximately 100 people was taking place. CHP were in the area responding to a carjacking that took place at a gas station at Avenue 15 and Highway 41 when the officer noticed the stolen vehicle crashed approximately three miles from the carjacking on Avenue 12.
The man, described only as Hispanic and wearing all black, was covered in dirt and alternating walking and running west. ”The suspect was actively attempting to evade law enforcement officers as California Highway Patrol Officers and an Air Unit pursued him”, said Madera County Sheriff’s spokesman Kayla Serratto in a prepared press release.
During what Madera County Sheriff Jay Varney called a lengthy search of the orchards and fields near Highway 41, the CHP officer who was engaged in the foot pursuit became fearful for his safety and discharged his firearm, striking the subject. Lifesaving measures were administered by CHP Officers, MCSO Deputies, and fire and emergency personnel. The unidentified subject was pronounced deceased at the scene. According to the Lieutenant Bill Ward of the Madera County Sheriff's Department, "A search of the area was conducted and a firearm was located; live rounds were also discovered in several different locations within the crime scene area. The search for additional evidence remains underway.".
Ward would not say how close to the suspects body the weapon was found nor the size of the crime scene. When asked if the weapon was reachable by the suspect in the location the CHP officer shot him, Ward said "No." When asked if it was save to say the suspect was unarmed at the time of the shooting? Ward said :Yes."
Varney said things began earlier in the day at Highway 41 and Avenue 15, where three men carjacked a white sedan, one of them brandishing a gun in the process. According to witness statements, one of the suspects, described as a Hispanic male adult, displayed a firearm to steal the vehicle. The Sheriff said only the man who was later killed got in the car and drove away. The other two suspects, also described as Hispanic male adults, fled on foot from a nearby Chevron Gas Station but were taken into custody by the CHP.
While neither CHP or the Madera County Sheriff's Department would release the name of the CHP officer involved in the shooting, Big Valley News has learned that the officer who fired the fatal shots Sunday was also involved in a 2013 off-duty shooting and excessive force complaint that is currently making its way through the Federal District Court in Fresno.
Officer Efrain Jimenez was one of three officers responding to his fellow CHP Officer James Yates, who while off-duty, requested backup through his cellular phone to the Merced CHP Dispatch. Yates had been following a Madera Unified janitor for some distance through the city of Madera in his private vehicle with his wife by his side. The janitor became in fear for his safety by the suspicious vehicle (Yates) behind him and pulled out his registered handgun which he has a California Concealed Weapons Permit to carry issued by the Madera County Sheriff's Department.
Yates then pulled his concealed weapon and fired five shots at a 10 yard distance into the janitor's truck and missed the janitor sparing his life. According to witnesses, Yates never identified himself as law enforcement. When the three CHP officers, including Jimenez, arrived at the scene just seconds later, the officers smashed the rest of the windows on the victim's truck and by the time the janitor was booked at the Madera County Jail, his face was beaten bloody. The weapon Yates used was not registered to the officer and the identity of the registered owner was never reveled in court. Two years after the incident the Madera County District Attorney's Office declined to press charges against the janitor and the multi-million dollar civil case began in the Federal District Court. (See 2015 Story)
The two men who were initially detained by CHP Sunday afternoon at the Chevron Gas Station were interviewed by Madera County Sheriff's Detectives and released. The identity of the decedent is not being released pending notification of next of kin. The investigation remains ongoing.
The Madera County Sheriff’s Office is taking over the investigation. Anyone with information as to the idenity of the decedent is asked to call the Madera County Sheriff’s Office at 559-75-7770 or Valley Crime Stoppers at 559-498-STOP (7867).
