SANTA ANA : Slayer of Suspect Won’t Be Charged

Prosecutors have decided not to press charges against a 29-year-old Anaheim man who fatally shot a suspected car burglar while waiting for police to arrive.

Harvey Dean Dunn told investigators that he tried to hold Tony M. Martinez, 20, of Santa Ana and another suspected burglar at gunpoint in his car until police arrived. But he fired a shot when Martinez got out of the car, threatened him and began walking toward him.

Martinez was pronounced dead of a single gunshot wound to the head outside an apartment complex at 900 S. Park Circle, police said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick H. Donahue said Thursday that he concluded that Dunn acted in self-defense because of Martinez’s threats.

“They were definitely threatening words,” Donahue said. “They were threatening to his life.”

Murder charges will not be filed against the second burglary suspect, Martin Rodriguez Valdez, 23, of Santa Ana, but he has been charged with felony auto burglary.