Police Shooting Victim Mourned

Dennis Paul Gonzales, who was shot to death by two Garden Grove police officers after he allegedly threatened them with a toy gun, was remembered Thursday at a memorial service in Santa Ana as someone with a “respect for authority.”

Artis Cash, a family friend who had employed Gonzales as a carpenter and concrete-finisher for about 9 months, told the 250 friends and relatives gathered at St. Barbara’s Catholic Church that the young man displayed deference and love for his father and brother in deed, as well as in words.

“First of all, I saw respect for authority,” Cash said in his brief eulogy.

Many relatives and friends of the 20-year-old Gonzales embraced each other and wiped away tears as Cash sought to comfort them.

“Yes, we want him here, but that’s not God’s will,” he said. “Look at this as a homecoming for him,” he told the mourners.

At the conclusion of the 1-hour service, many of the mourners surged forward to the first pew to embrace and offer condolences to the Gonzales family.

Gonzales died at about 12:15 a.m. Sunday at the home of his friend, Jerry Joseph Wilson, after he was shot numerous times by two Garden Grove officers. The officers were responding to a 911 emergency call made by his 20-year-old girlfriend, Paige Richelieu, after the couple got into an argument.

Garden Grove police have said the two officers, whose names were not released, opened fire when Gonzales pointed a toy gun resembling a .45-caliber semiautomatic at them. Three eyewitnesses--Richelieu, Gonzales’ stepsister and Wilson--have disputed the police account, saying that he was not pointing the toy gun when the officers fired.

The shooting is being investigated by the Orange County district attorney’s office.

The officers had come to the home in the 9700 block of 11th Street and were talking with Richelieu and Gonzales’ stepsister, Julie Harris, when Gonzales and Wilson appeared at the front door.

Wilson and his parents said they had counted at least 19 bullet holes in their furniture and living room walls.

The two officers were placed on paid leave immediately after the shooting, Garden Grove Police Lt. Stuart Finkelstein said. One of the officers returned to work Wednesday, and the other was scheduled to return Thursday night after undergoing required psychological evaluations, Finkelstein added.

After Thursday’s memorial service, Gonzales’ father and an aunt expressed bitterness over his death.

“I believe an injustice was done to me,” his father, Dennis E. Gonzales, said. “I would like justice to be served and the truth to come out.”

“I hope to God something will be done,” said Mary Olguin, Gonzales’ aunt. “They don’t deserve to be policemen anymore.”