D.A. Clears Ventura Officer in Shooting

Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury issued a report Tuesday clearing a veteran Ventura police officer of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of an armed murder suspect three months ago.

In a lengthy report, prosecutors concluded that Officer John Dean was justified in shooting Alfonso Acosta Delgado Jr. after Delgado armed himself with an assault rifle and advanced on officers trying to serve an arrest warrant.

Delgado, 25, was wanted in an April 6 shooting at Central Market in west Ventura, in which two masked gunmen opened fire during a robbery attempt, killing a clerk and injuring two co-owners.

A month after the shooting, an arrest warrant was issued charging Delgado with murder, attempted murder and related charges.

On May 12, Ventura police, with help from the suspect’s relatives, tracked Delgado to his grandmother’s home on Channel Drive. Officers were informed by family members that Delgado was hiding in the garage.

That evening, police deployed the department’s SWAT team and surrounded the home. Dean, a 20-year veteran and SWAT team marksman, was positioned along railroad tracks behind the home.

After police pointed patrol-car headlights at the house, Dean saw Delgado climb out a back window of the garage carrying an assault rifle, the report states.

“When Delgado began to move closer to a team of officers responsible for the perimeter, Officer Dean determined that Delgado was an imminent threat to the safety of those officers,” wrote Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Calvert, who prepared the 41-page report. “Recognizing the immediacy of the danger, the command post gave permission to fire.”

From 65 feet away, Dean fired one shot that struck Delgado in the head, killing him instantly, the report states. A loaded semiautomatic .308-caliber assault rifle was found next to him.

Prosecutors noted in their report that Delgado was considered a dangerous suspect after police found three semiautomatic rifles and a 9-millimeter pistol during a search of his residence following the Central Market shooting.

Delgado’s alleged accomplice in that shooting, 32-year-old Ojai resident Richard Geise, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.