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Guadalupe police officer accidentally shoots and kills a man

August 22, 2021

By KAREN VELIE

A Guadalupe police officer fired his revolver at a wanted suspect on Saturday evening, but instead shot and killed an uninvolved resident who was sitting in his car.

Shortly before 10 p.m., officers recognized a man at the intersection of Birch and Obispo streets as a suspect with an outstanding no-bail felony arrest warrant. An officer then fired at the wanted suspect, but hit 59-year-old Juan Luis Olvera-Preciado of Guadalupe, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Law enforcement agencies are not releasing the sequence of events that transpired between the suspect and officers because of an ongoing investigation by the California Department of Justice, the Santa Maria Police Department and the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office. Neither the officer nor the suspect, who was taken into custody, were injured.

Investigators are also not releasing the names of both the wanted suspect and the involved officer, pending additional interviews and investigative processes. Guadalupe Police Chief Michael Cash met personally with the Olvera-Preciado family to offer his condolences and to coordinate support services.


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Rugged one.


-3

Could it be that the budget has trimmed range time? Not having been there who knows what the actual circumstances were at the split second the officer had at that scene? Lots of questions for a sad outcome to all. Accidents do and will always happen.


1

Unfortunately, you’re right on all counts.


1

I don’t care if the officer was using a flintlock pistol. Why did he feel it necessary to shoot at the felony suspect with a no bail warrant? What was the warrant for? What was the suspect doing? The officer shoots and hit some other guy who apparently was uninvolved. Disturbing. Why does Guadalupe even have a PD? Disband it and contract with the sheriff’s office.

Attorney General Bonta will send his “crack team” of investigators to investigate this case, utilizing all of SBSO’s resources. I expect this will be the test case for the new California law that requires the AG investigate. Since Bonta wrote the law before Newsom appointed him AG, you can bet on a criminal charge for the officer, regardless of the circumstances.

A civil suit from the deceased man’s family will follow.


5

You’re jumping to conclusions… we don’t have all the facts. You weren’t their hotshot!


3

From KSBY: Under AB 1506, the California DOJ and Attorney General’s Office are required to handle the criminal investigation into the shooting because it resulted in the death of an unarmed civilian.


The Attorney General’s Office said Monday that the DOJ’s California Police Shooting Investigation Team for Southern California has been deployed to the scene of the shooting.


Gee.. looky there, I was right.. maybe I do know what I am talking about..

An officer fires his weapon at a suspect, misses and hits a guy sitting in his car waiting for his wife and kills him. Doesn’t take Columbo to figure out there is trouble headed the officer’s and the city’s way.


2

I suspect part of the eventual civil settlement will indeed be the disbanding of the Guadalupe PD. This really is some wild-west bull manure!


-2

Not sure any law enforcement officers are carrying revolvers anymore. Who knows? I own an old revolver that was generally a backup carried on the ankle. It was built in’73.


13

My question exactly. I’m also curious if the shooter is a very old LEO who was grandfathered in to carry the revo?


-2

I was thinking the same thing , no agency is going to allow a revolver as your primary weapon. This story is alarming for several reasons but it is Guadalupe so who knows.


12

Your first assumption should be that the reporter chose their words incorrectly. How he used the weapon is more pertinent than what they called it.


15

That is probably the case, it is the media. Your second sentence is also accurate.


2