SANTA ANA : Officer Won’t Be Charged in Death

The district attorney’s office has declined to file criminal charges against a police officer in connection with the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy near a high school in September, an incident that led to increased police patrols around the campus.

“There is insufficient evidence of criminal culpability on the part of any police personnel in connection with the death of . . . Jose D. Jimenez,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans, who reviewed the case.

In the wake of the Sept. 9 shooting about a block from Santa Ana High School, Police Chief Paul M. Walters vowed to provide extra patrols in the area to guard against outbreaks of violence. Jimenez, 16, of Santa Ana, was not a student at the school.

As with all county shootings involving police officers, the district attorney’s office investigated the incident.

According to police at the time of the incident, Jimenez pointed a handgun at Officer Stephen Serrano near the corner of 1st and Flower streets before he was shot.

The incident began when officers who happened to be in the area saw two groups of youths on opposite sides of the street taunting each other, police said. Someone from one group apparently shot toward the other group, sending both groups fleeing.

Then Jimenez ran across the intersection waving a gun, according to police. Seconds later, Serrano saw Jimenez in the parking lot of a convenience store, where the officer ordered the teen-ager to stop.

Police investigators said Jimenez turned toward Serrano with a handgun, and it was then that the officer fired at least two shots, fatally wounding the youth.