OXNARD : 3 Officers Exonerated in Man’s Death

The Ventura County district attorney’s office on Wednesday exonerated three Oxnard police officers in the death of a suspect in a gun battle on Oct. 6.

Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison ruled that the death of Heliodoro Montero, 47, was justifiable homicide because Montero had fired a pistol at police.

Officers Ben Chavez, Richard Camacho and Steven Kawaguchi returned fire in a 44-shot fusillade that killed Montero, Ellison’s report said.

The report related these events leading to the shooting: Montero, a Latino farm worker who recently had been fired, went to 140 N. Hayes Ave. looking for a friend.

A resident there, Rosa Lozano, told investigators that Montero spoke of wanting to die and “take a few people with him.”

Lozano called police, who arrived and began interviewing her. A few minutes later, Montero emerged from the house waving a gun.

When Lozano fired at the officers, they returned fire, an exchange that was recorded on police audio-tapes.

Chavez fired two full clips of ammunition--31 shots--while Kawaguchi fired nine rounds and Camacho four.

At one point, Montero fell on the driveway but sat up and pointed his gun at the officers again, the report said.

Montero suffered at least 15 wounds. Tests later revealed that Montero had a blood-alcohol level of 0.40%, five times the amount considered legally drunk.

His gun contained three spent shells and three live rounds, all with dents on the firing caps.

This indicated that someone had tried to fire them, but they failed to go off because the gun’s firing pin or the bullets were defective, Ellison’s report said.

Tests also revealed that none of the officers had drugs or alcohol in their systems at the time of the incident, the report said.

The report concludes that Montero posed a threat to the police and civilians at the scene and that the officers acted in a reasonable manner to defend themselves and others.