SIMI VALLEY : 2 Officers Cleared in Fatal Shooting

The Ventura County district attorney’s office on Friday cleared two Simi Valley police officers of wrongdoing in the shooting death of a former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy late last year.

In its report on the Dec. 1 shooting, the district attorney’s office said Simi Valley Police Officers Ron Chambers and Craig Reiners acted in a reasonable and necessary fashion by shooting Bernard Edward Fernandez after he had shot another man and appeared ready to fire again.

The officers shot Fernandez of Simi Valley as he held a gun pointed at Michael Gennaro, who was forced to lie face down on his front porch, the report said. “Both Officer Chambers and Officer Reiners were justified in believing that Fernandez was about to kill or inflict bodily injury on Michael Gennaro,” the 18-page report said.

Chambers hit Fernandez from close range with two rounds from a .12-gauge shotgun and Reiners hit Fernandez with three shots from a 9-millimeter handgun, police said. Fernandez was pronounced dead on arrival at Simi Valley Adventist Hospital, officials said. He died from a 9-millimeter gunshot wound to the upper back.

Gennaro, 38, is the husband of Terry Gennaro, 41, a former neighbor with whom Fernandez had a lengthy romantic relationship, police said. Gennaro and Fernandez were arguing on the front porch over the affair before Fernandez shot Gennaro between his shoulder and neck.

“He’s recovering but still doesn’t have full use of his right arm yet,” Terry Gennaro said Friday.

Fernandez, 44, joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in November, 1973, and retired in December, 1987, for medical reasons, authorities said.

Both Chambers and Reiners received Medals of Merit for risking bodily harm to save Gennaro’s life.