Protest Held in Slaying of Man by Police

More than 60 protesters marched on Huntington Beach City Hall and police headquarters Monday, charging racism after investigators confirmed that the gun an 18-year-old farm worker allegedly pointed at officers during a fatal weekend shooting was a toy rifle.

Toting handwritten signs saying, “We don’t trust the H.B. Police any more,” relatives and friends questioned police accounts that Antonio Saldivar, who has no history of violence, pointed any weapon at officers before he was killed.

Saldivar was shot about 1:40 a.m. Saturday after a short chase by a patrolman that began and ended in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, a few blocks from the small stucco apartment Saldivar shared with his extended family on Queens Lane.

“[Police] do what they want because we can’t do anything about it,” Susana Campos, Saldivar’s sister, said in a tearful interview. “If he was carrying a gun, where is it? Where are the fingerprints?”

Huntington Beach Sgt. Chuck Thomas, who met with Campos at police headquarters during the demonstration, asked the community to have patience, promising that investigators would get to the bottom of things.

“A tremendous amount of sympathy goes out to this gentleman’s family as well as the officer,” Thomas said. “We don’t become police officers to hurt people.”

Thomas said the shooting occurred after officers spotted Saldivar late at night, wearing dark clothes, suspiciously peering into a parked pickup truck near Ash Street.

When approached by a uniformed officer, Saldivar fled on foot, Thomas said. The officer eventually caught up to him and found Saldivar crouched behind a car. The officer, in both English and Spanish, ordered Saldivar to stand up and show himself. When Saldivar did so, he was pointing the rifle at the officer, Thomas said.

Thomas said he has no explanation as to why Saldivar would pick up a toy gun with police chasing him: “That’s very puzzling. Unfortunately, we may never know.”

Orange County sheriff’s detectives are investigating the officer-involved shooting.

Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Steve Doan on Monday said a toy rifle was confiscated from the scene and is being considered as evidence, describing it as 20 inches long with a wood stock and blue steel barrel.

“I’m sure it looked real to the officer at the scene that night,” Doan said.

Investigators would not disclose whether Saldivar’s fingerprints were on the gun or reveal where or how many times he was shot.

Police officials also refused to disclose the name of the officer involved in the shooting despite a 1995 state appellate court ruling that found that the public interest for full disclosure outweighs the rights of deputies to have their names withheld.

Huntington Beach City Atty. Gail Hutton said the officer’s name is being withheld because of rumors that local gang members have threatened Huntington Beach officers because of the shooting. Hutton did not provide details about the rumors.

“I am concerned about the life of the officer,” she said.

During Monday’s protests, Saldivar’s family and friends cast doubt on the police account of events, saying that Saldivar was a peaceful, hard-working teenager who did not cause trouble.

“We come to this country to work,” said Saldivar’s mother, Epifania Huertero, a hotel housekeeper.”We’re not criminals,” she said. “The police are racists. It’s not fair that the police kill. The police are supposed to help the youth, not kill them.”