SWAT Shooting Ruled Justifiable Killing

Robert Gary Taschner was mortally wounded but still alive outside his Escondido apartment and sheriff’s SWAT officers “believed the writhing, resisting man continued to represent a threat to their lives” when he was hit by a final, fatal bullet to the face, the district attorney ruled Friday.

In declaring the case a justifiable homicide, the district attorney issued a dramatic recounting of the events that led up to the Dec. 5 gun battle in which Taschner, 37, was slain after killing a deputy sheriff and wounding two others.

“Taschner was hell-bent on his own death and taking with him as many as he could,” the district attorney’s report said. “That he wasn’t more successful may be owing only to sheer luck and the grace of God.”

The coroner in February determined that Taschner suffered numerous gunshot and buckshot wounds fired by SWAT officers that fractured his pelvis, vertebrae, ribs and forearm, and tore through his lungs, intestines and chest. He was struck by the heavy gunfire as he ran from his apartment on East Mission Avenue, wearing a military camouflage suit and firing a Chinese-made assault rifle from the hip.

But it was the closing moments of the 12-hour standoff that were controversial.

Television videotapes showed the wounded Taschner lying on the ground, surrounded by officers, and the sudden movement of one officer, later identified as Deputy Ronald Gonzales, as he fired a final shot at close range into Taschner’s head.

The district attorney’s report gave this account of the last seconds:

“Deputy Gonzales saw that Taschner was attempting to roll over and raise his torso, with his hands still out of view in his waistband area . . .

“Taschner was still an active threat and was making movements consistent with reaching for a weapon . . .

“The wounds, although they ultimately would have proven fatal, had by then not incapacitated Taschner. Not only was he not handcuffed, but what concerned officers was the hidden nature of his hands, coupled with the movements of his torso as if he were attempting to come up and at them again . . .

“Gonzales and the other involved deputies believed the writhing, resisting man continued to represent a threat to their lives. Deputy Gonzales, who was in the best position to do so, therefore fired a single shot at Taschner’s head, striking him in the left cheek.

“Taschner’s resistance ceased, and only then could he be handcuffed. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”

The district attorney said the autopsy showed that Taschner’s gunshot wounds--even before the final shot--would ultimately have resulted in his death, “even with immediate medical attention.”

“In that sense he was already a dead man,” the district attorney said. “But to Deputy Gonzales and the other involved deputies, he was still an actively resisting dangerous felon.”

The Sheriff’s Department has consistently maintained that deputies acted properly in the Taschner siege.

“This report is very self-explanatory,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Alan Fulmer. “Basically it backs us up. From the very beginning we had a feeling this is exactly the way things were going to turn out.”

Fulmer said allegations that Taschner was unnecessarily killed were groundless, particularly when the videotapes are closely scrutinized.

“It’s one thing to sit in the comfort of your living room and view the tape,” he said. “But when you play it out, and watch the confrontation up and back in slow motion and stop motion, it totally corroborates everything the deputies said was occurring.”

Relatives of Taschner have criticized law enforcement officials, contending that he was executed.

A $1-million claim against the City of Escondido, which called in the sheriff’s SWAT officers, has been filed by the Taschner family, alleging that he was the victim of a “summary execution.” The claim, the first step toward a lawsuit, states that Taschner was “wrongfully and fatally shot” by deputies.

His mother, Sally Taschner, and her attorney, S. Robert Walder, declined to comment Friday.

The coroner’s report released in February stated that Taschner was a diagnosed schizophrenic with a passion for satanism and high-powered weaponry. The coroner also determined that there was enough methamphetamine in the man’s body to cause violent and irrational behavior.

The district attorney’s report noted that, two days before the gun battle, Taschner was arraigned on an illegal weapons charge.

Released on his own recognizance, he then went to the Escondido Gun Exchange and purchased the assault rifle, a pair of high-power binoculars, two 30-round magazine clips for the rifle and ammunition.

The district attorney described a phone call Taschner made to his ex-wife on the night of Dec. 4:

“Saying his mind was going so fast he couldn’t keep up with it, Taschner wanted his ex-wife to talk with ‘Honey,’ by which she understood him to be referring to his gun. Fearful that he might want to kill her, she hung up and did not go to his apartment.”

Later that night, shots were fired from Taschner’s apartment, police were called and the standoff began. During the siege, Taschner shot and killed Deputy Lonny Brewer and wounded two other deputies--Scott Rossall in the leg and Chuck Wagner in the finger.

Brewer was killed when he and several SWAT deputies forced open the front door to the apartment, only to find Taschner prone inside and firing at them. The deputies pulled back, but only some minutes later realized that Brewer was missing. He was then found mortally wounded in the chest, lying between two parked vehicles.

According to the district attorney, news of Brewer’s death was deliberately withheld from all field officers at the scene.