Family Assails Deputies Over Youth’s Slaying

The family of a Lynwood teenager who was shot to death by sheriff’s deputies after he wounded two officers with a shotgun said Monday that authorities fired at him after he had tried to surrender.

The Sheriff’s Department said that Julio Castillo, 16, was fatally shot after he appeared from behind bushes near a freeway embankment and leveled his shotgun at the deputies.

A neighbor, Ubel Perez, who said he saw the shooting from his apartment door, told a different story. He said the wounded youth was shot again as he was waving his hands, signaling that he was giving up. “I heard two shots and saw him fall back,” Perez said.

Julio’s mother, Gloria Santos, said Monday that shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, she and her son had a heated argument in their Lynwood apartment. She told her son to leave and he lost his temper and began yelling. His mother called sheriff’s deputies.

“I called them so they would subdue him, not kill him,” Santos said.

Deputy Angie Prewett said that when deputies arrived in the 3700 block of Fernwood Avenue they saw Castillo near an embankment next to the Century Freeway. He was holding a shotgun in one hand. With the other hand, he was holding a young woman by the neck “as if he were holding her as a hostage,” Deputy Bob Killeen said.

Sgt. Vincent Callier said that Castillo started firing at deputies, prompting them to return fire. One deputy was hit in the side of the face with shotgun pellets. The other deputy was hit in the chest, but was not seriously injured because of a protective vest, Callier said.

After Castillo raised his shotgun, deputies fired the two rounds. Then they called for an armored vehicle used by the department’s Special Enforcement Bureau to apprehend the youth, but he was found dead.

Family members Monday questioned why deputies did not go to Castillo earlier to provide medical aid.

“He had verbally mentioned [to other people] that he was going to kill a cop,” Prewett said. “Would you go up to him without the proper protection?”

Araceli Pena, 17, said she was the girl with Castillo on Sunday morning. She said she was simply trying to calm her boyfriend down after the argument with his mother. She insisted that she was not a hostage.

Castillo was extremely angry, Pena said, and she was trying to take the shotgun away from him.

Pena said that after Castillo was shot in the shoulder, he dropped his weapon and was attempting to surrender.

“He put his hands up in the air,” Pena said. “I was screaming at [the deputies] that he was shot and couldn’t get up.”

The young woman said she went to the deputies’ position to try to defuse the situation. They took her away for questioning.

Later, the two shots were fired, Perez said.

Prewett said that even if Pena was trying to calm Julio down, “he gave no indication of turning himself in.”