Man Deputies Killed Described as Depressed

A Thousand Oaks man who was shot to death by deputies after allegedly threatening them with a large kitchen knife was described by a family friend as being angry and depressed over recently losing his high-paying job.

Thomas Patton, 56, a printer, was killed in front of his house Saturday afternoon when Ventura County sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call about a fight between the suspect and his wife, Jackie.

Before deputies arrived, Jackie Patton had fled to a neighbor’s home, where she was found with minor injuries. When deputies confronted Thomas Patton, he refused to drop a 16-inch knife, authorities said.

“He had the knife and he used it in a threatening manner,” Senior Deputy James Morris said. “That’s when the shots were fired.”

Witnesses disputed the account by authorities and said Patton was not moving aggressively toward deputies and could have been subdued with less than lethal force. Deputies did not use any less-than-lethal weapons on Patton, authorities said.

“It was overkill,” said Lisa Geary, a neighbor and the friend to whose house Jackie Patton had fled. “They did not have to shoot him. Tom did not deserve to get shot.”

Patton was shot multiple times shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday and pronounced dead an hour later at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, said Senior Deputy Medical Examiner James Baroni.

Authorities refused to say how many rounds were fired or whether any of the six deputies who responded were placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings. Hospital sources said Patton’s body was riddled with bullets.

This was the first fatal shooting of a crime suspect by county sheriff’s deputies since 1998 and the seventh in the county this year by law enforcement officers. It comes at a time when area police have been publicly criticized for not using enough nonlethal methods to try to subdue armed suspects.

According to Geary, Patton had a history of domestic violence with his wife and had become increasingly violent and depressed since losing his job in June at Conejo Graphics in Westlake Village.

Recently, Geary said, Patton was hired by a printing shop on Thousand Oaks Boulevard at a much lower salary than his previous job.

“He said he felt like a failure,” Geary said. “It was so hard for him to pay his bills. He wasn’t able to provide like he used to. It ate at him and he hurt so bad inside.”

Geary, who made the first 911 call, said in an interview that Jackie Patton was injured Saturday when her husband allegedly threw a television remote control at her during an argument.

It wasn’t the first time the couple had argued, according to Geary.

“I told Tom he couldn’t hit her anymore,” said Geary, who befriended the couple when they moved to the neighborhood near Thousand Oaks High School several years ago.

“He was hitting her every other day. Jackie is my friend and I told him I wouldn’t tolerate it. And I told her it wasn’t right,” Geary said. “Love is not supposed to hurt.”

Geary said she noticed a bump on Jackie Patton’s head earlier Saturday and that they debated for about an hour before agreeing the abuse should be reported. That’s when Geary called 911, she said.

Deputies shot Patton minutes after arriving at his home in the 900 block of Avenida de Las Flores. Deputy Morris said the suspect refused repeated requests by deputies to drop the knife.

Geary and others said Patton came out of his house carrying the knife at his side before placing the tip of the blade to his chest. He then walked across the street toward Geary’s house as deputies made constant demands that he drop the knife. When he refused, deputies opened fire.

Neighbor Steve Ostermann, who said he witnessed the shooting from about 30 feet away, said five deputies followed Patton as he staggered back toward his house, bleeding from several gunshot wounds.

Neighbors said the scene was chaotic, with several residents in the area shouting at deputies after they fired.

“He had a pretty good-size knife in his hand,” said Ostermann, who said he heard 18 shots. “He was dazed and wanted to just get to the front of his house. The cops told him to put the knife down, but he just looked down. He was going down and they kept shooting at him.”