3 Detectives Are Cleared in 2003 Fatal Shooting

The Los Angeles Police Commission has cleared three detectives of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of two robbery suspects, despite finding that on five occasions they reported seeing handguns that were not recovered.

The detectives with the LAPD’s controversial Special Investigation Section shot and killed David Thomas, 19, and Byron Smith, 20, as they subdued a robbery gang in 2003.

No guns were found on the two dead men or two others who were captured. A handgun was found in a getaway car after the four allegedly robbed the Northridge Beauty Club.

“I have determined that the detectives reasonably believed the suspects presented an immediate threat of serious bodily injury or death,” Police Chief William J. Bratton concluded in a finding endorsed by the Police Commission. Bratton did find fault with the way the officers stopped the getaway car before the shootings.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, which investigates all police shootings, has not yet issued a decision in the case, said spokeswoman Jane Robison. Prosecutors charged the surviving suspects with assault on police officers, based on the gun recovered in the getaway car and others that might have been discarded by the thieves.

Bratton ordered a review of the SIS, a unit known for stalking and capturing criminals with violent histories and which has proved a lightning rod for critics and litigators. In its 40 years, the unit has been responsible for 37 suspect deaths and multimillion-dollar litigation payouts.

The unit now emphasizes the use of less than lethal weapons, such as Tasers, in some cases, clearly marked patrol cars and brighter lighting, according to police.

After the Sept. 17, 2003, incident, Detectives Robert Kraus, Christopher Brazzill and Anthony Avila told investigators they fired because the two suspects they killed and another suspect, Steve Hunnicutt, were armed. The report, dated last September but released this week, stated that no handguns were found in the possession of the dead men or Hunnicutt.

None of the suspects had gunshot residue on their hands.

According to the report, the SIS began surveillance on the group, suspected in a series of violent robberies, two days before the shooting. A day before the shooting they learned that one man had bought hundreds of rounds of ammunition for various handguns and rifles.

Shortly before 7 p.m. on Sept. 17, Hunnicutt, Thomas and Smith were seen entering the Northridge salon with bandannas covering their faces. Soon after they left, an SIS detective entered and those inside reported they had been robbed and the “suspects were armed.”

Donning police raid jackets, 10 SIS officers aided by a police helicopter tracked the suspects to Gaynor Avenue, a San Fernando Valley cul de sac where two detectives used their car to block the alleged getaway car.

Kraus was unable to open the door of the car far enough because it was wedged against the getaway car. Bratton criticized that tactic and ordered additional training for Kraus and nine others involved in the incident.

Hunnicutt, Smith and Thomas jumped out of the getaway car and ran away in a group. Kraus, according to the report, believed Hunnicutt turned and pointed “a handgun” at him. He fired his .45-caliber pistol through his closed driver’s door window twice.

Believing his partner had been shot or shot at and reporting that he saw Hunnicutt with a “semi-automatic pistol,” Brazzill fired two rounds at him from his urban assault rifle, according to the report.

Kraus and Brazzill then saw Thomas move his arm from his waistband toward them, according to the report. Thinking they were under attack, each fired two rounds. Anthony Avila, hearing the gunfire, feeling flying glass and believing Kraus was under attack, fired one round from his shotgun at Smith, according to the report. Smith, hit by buckshot and a .45-caliber bullet, fell next to Thomas near a commercial trash bin where they both died, according to the report.

Hunnicutt continued to flee, and another detective radioed that an armed suspect was running.

Davis said he saw Hunnicutt discard a firearm before he was captured. The report noted that investigators found a wallet taken during the robbery near where Davis said he saw suspect Hunnicutt drop a gun.

Prosecutors charged the alleged driver, Jerome Barnes, with robbery and assault on a police officer with a firearm, based on the handgun recovered from the getaway car.

Hunnicutt, who survived the hail of gunfire unscathed, was charged with robbery and assaulting a police officer with a firearm.

“They had an opportunity along the way to discard the guns,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jane Winston.

David Mann, Hunnicutt’s attorney, said police never found a gun outside the car “because there never was one.” He said his client was never out of the sight of police and there was no way a gun would not have been recovered.

But John Miller, chief of the Counter Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau, which now runs the SIS, emphasized that “multiple officers reported seeing a gun in the suspect’s hands.” He said one suspect who was arrested told police the gang had weapons, and then in later statement referred to a single gun.

“Based on the statement of the officers and one of the suspects, there was more than one gun at the scene of this incident,” Miller said Wednesday.