Police Fatally Shoot Man in Standoff

Police fatally shot a 23-year-old Camarillo man at a gas station in Port Hueneme early Thursday after the man reached for a shotgun and raised it at officers, investigators and witnesses said.

Santos Anderson Arias fell backward after being peppered with bullets in the parking lot of the Unocal gas station at Pleasant Valley and Ventura roads, witnesses said. He was pronounced dead at 2:35 a.m.

It was the first fatal shooting involving Port Hueneme officers in at least 23 years, said Port Hueneme Sgt. Fernando Estrella.

On Thursday morning, investigators swarmed around the 24-hour gas station, which was sealed off with yellow police tape. More than 40 yellow cards marked where shell casings, bullet fragments and other evidence had fallen. Blood stained the pavement next to a yellow tarp marking where Arias had fallen, about 10 feet from one set of pumps.

“Something like this, it’s very complicated,” said Estrella, who supervised the 14-hour collection of evidence at the crime scene. “It’s just like putting a puzzle back together. And there’s many pieces.”

The incident occurred after shots were fired at a nearby bar and a police officer spotted Arias, who was toting a shotgun, investigators said.

According to a clerk at the gas station, Arias was killed after a standoff in which he appeared to be daring police to shoot him.

Paul Martinez, who witnessed the incident from inside the cashier’s booth, said Arias first obeyed Sgt. Jerry Beck’s commands to lie down on the pavement. Then, as more officers arrived to back up Beck, Arias stood back up, ignoring police orders for him to stop.

“He was standing there facing them, telling them to shoot him,” Martinez said.

Arias then took several steps toward the 12-gauge, pistol-grip shotgun he had earlier thrown down.

“He started to pick up the gun and hesitated for a second,” Martinez said. “Then he started bringing it up. He was bringing it up in a position to aim it at the cops when he was shot.”

Estrella said Arias leveled his weapon at the officers.

In all, three Port Hueneme and six Oxnard officers were at the gas station when the shooting occurred. Authorities would not say how many fired their 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistols. All nine have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Officers fired rounds at Arias for three or four seconds, Martinez said.

“He fell back from where he was standing and didn’t move,” he said. Martinez said he let a customer who was buying gas slip into the cashier’s booth during the confrontation.

Martinez said he did not see Arias fire any shots. Police would not comment on whether gunfire was exchanged.

An autopsy took more than seven hours because of the number and nature of Arias’ wounds, authorities said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Janes assisted police in the investigation. When the police inquiry is completed, the district attorney’s office will determine whether the shooting was justified.

The events that led to the shooting began about two blocks from the gas station, at a small bar known as the Top Deck.

Arias had apparently gotten into a fight at the bar earlier in the evening, according to the manager of studio apartments that are attached to the bar.

About 2:26 a.m., after the bar had closed, Arias allegedly returned and fired two shotgun blasts at the back door. The bar stands just outside the Pleasant Valley Road entrance to the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion Center, but Arias has no military connections, authorities said.

Carl Sweet, who lives in one of the apartments next to the bar, said he was watching TV when he was startled by the first blast.

“I could have sworn I heard someone scream, ‘God help me!’ ” about five minutes before the first shot, he said. Several minutes later, Sweet heard the second blast and called police.

Sgt. Beck was driving toward the bar when he saw Arias running across Ventura Road toward the gas station in the light rain. Beck pulled into the gas station, stopped Arias and radioed for backup because Arias matched the description of the suspect from the Top Deck shooting.

Arias lived with his mother, Brenda Stephen, just outside of Camarillo. She could not be reached for comment.

In recent years, Arias had several brushes with the law. Most recently, he was convicted in December, 1992, of drunken driving. He was arrested on the same charge in 1990. That same year he pleaded guilty to giving false information to a police officer. In 1989, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of exhibiting a firearm.