‘It’s Like Looking Down the Barrel of a Real Gun’ : Police Say Cigarette Lighter Appeared to Be Revolver to Officer Who Killed Man

It was only a cigarette lighter. But police say it looked like a real gun to the people James Anthony Zendejas was trying to rob. And it looked real to Ventura Officer Tim Turner.

On Monday, police said it still looked just as real as it must have shortly before midnight Saturday when Turner fatally shot Zendejas as he allegedly pointed the fake gun at three Ventura Avenue residents.

“It’s not something you would mistake for a gun only in the dark shadows,” Sgt. Ted Prell said. “This looks like a gun in the daylight.

“The flame comes out of the end, so it’s recessed. If you were looking at it from that end, it’s just like looking down the barrel of a real gun.” Prell spoke as police continued an investigation of the shooting, saying the cigarette lighter was designed to look like a small-caliber handgun. He said there is no law banning the sale of such lighters.

“People unnecessarily put their lives in danger by purchasing and flashing these things around,” he said. “We all know some people carry guns these days. If you pulled this out in your car, someone could mistake it for a real gun.”

Police and witnesses said Zendejas was walking home from an evening at a friend’s house when he approached three Ventura men in the driveway of their apartment at the 100 block of El Medio Street.

After he allegedly threatened one of the men, asking for money and holding the lighter to the man’s head, the man’s son went inside to call 911.

Officer Turner arrived two minutes later and crouched behind a nearby fence to protect himself, police said Monday.

As Turner watched, a police statement said, Zendejas walked away from the men, but then turned around toward them, raising his arm straight out in front of him and putting his finger in what looked to be the trigger area of the replica gun.

Turner then fired a shot from his .12 gauge shotgun, hitting Zendejas in the stomach, the police statement continued. Zendejas was pronounced dead during surgery at Ventura County Memorial Hospital at 2:30 Sunday morning.

The coroner’s office said Zendejas was drunk at the time of the shooting.

Investigators said Monday that Zendejas did not know the men he threatened. They also said another resident of El Medio Street reported that Zendejas had brandished the fake gun in his presence earlier in the evening.

But Zendejas’ mother, Pamela, said Monday that she has many questions about the incident.

She described her son as a gentle man who was trying to get back on his feet by going to church and beginning treatment for an alcohol problem.

Zendejas was living with a family friend and worked odd jobs in construction, she said. She added that he collected Social Security checks because he was slightly disabled in an accident when he was 13.

Because of learning disabilities, he made it only through 11th grade at Ventura High School, his mother added. She said many of her son’s friends were shocked to hear that Zendejas--who had no criminal record--would have a run-in with the police.

“If someone is causing trouble, he doesn’t get involved,” she said. “He had respect for the police.”

Pamela Zendejas added that she is angry that police did not notify her of the shooting while her son was in surgery. She was not told about his death until 5 Sunday morning.

Turner, 31, a seven-year veteran of the Ventura Police Department, is scheduled to return to his patrol duty later this week, after taking some previously scheduled days off.

Prell said an administrative task force is considering whether to put Turner on administrative leave or desk duty or keep him on patrol until an investigation is complete.

The district attorney’s office plans to conduct an investigation of the incident after it receives a report from the Police Department today. Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Holmes said the results should be available to the public in four to six weeks.