Deputy Who Shot Suspect Won’t Be Prosecuted

A Ventura County sheriff’s deputy was justified in shooting a fleeing, unarmed suspect in the back and thus leaving him paralyzed on Feb. 14 because she believed the man had a gun, the district attorney’s office ruled Wednesday.

Senior Deputy Linda Hagemann will not be prosecuted for firing the single shotgun blast that hit Daniel Moreno, 24, of Camarillo, as he fled a Camarillo shoe store that afternoon, said a report by Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol J. Nelson.

But the Sheriff’s Department internal affairs division is continuing its investigation, which should be finished next week, Undersheriff Larry Carpenter said.

One shotgun pellet hit Moreno in the back of his head and penetrated his brain, leaving him paralyzed and unable to speak. He remains hospitalized at Ventura County Medical Center in serious condition.

“Deputy Hagemann reasonably, but erroneously, believed that an armed robbery had taken place and . . . that someone had been injured,” Nelson’s report said. “Using deadly force was reasonable and justifiable from what she knew.”

However, the report said Hagemann gave two contradictory accounts of the shooting.

Nelson said Hagemann will not be prosecuted on a criminal charge of making a false statement to police. But Carpenter said the sheriff’s internal affairs division will continue its investigation to determine if she violated department rules. Penalties for such violations could range from a reprimand to dismissal.

In one of the conflicting statements, Hagemann told a fellow officer shortly after the shooting that she did not know whether she fired the gun as a reflex or a nervous reaction, Nelson’s report said.

Then on Feb. 16 she made an official report, saying she fired because she was “in fear for my safety and the safety of others in the immediate area.”

Initially, Hagemann declined to waive her Miranda rights and talk to investigators; however, she then made the second statement under orders from her department and advice from her attorney.

Nelson said Wednesday, “People who are involved in traumatic situations will sometimes describe the same event slightly differently on two occasions and, giving her the benefit of the doubt, she may have changed her opinion or her own analysis . . . as opposed to intentionally misleading anyone.”

Hagemann, an eight-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department with three years’ experience in uniform, has returned to regular duty as the juvenile officer assigned to Camarillo, Carpenter said. She will not comment on the report, he said.

This is what happened, according to Nelson’s report:

Hagemann was working overtime hours on patrol at 4:57 p.m. on Feb. 14 when she answered a radio call reporting a possible armed robbery in progress at the Kinney Shoe Store at 706 Arneill Road.

Hagemann, the closest officer to the scene, arrived alone. She parked her car around the corner from the store entrance and edged toward the door.

Inside, Moreno allegedly was beating store manager Victor Miramontez, who lives with Moreno’s ex-wife. Moreno and three other men then ran from the store, pursued by store employee Adam Oaks, who was brandishing an electric stun gun.

Believing the first four men were armed, Hagemann yelled, “freeze,” but they kept running. She raised her 12-gauge shotgun and cocked it. Unable to see Moreno’s hands, she saw him make a movement that she described at different times as “a dip of his shoulder” and a “hesitation” and believed he was starting to turn toward her, Nelson’s report said.

The gun--whether intentionally or not--went off. The blast went high, and one pellet hit Moreno, lodging in his skull behind his left eyebrow, the report said.