Officer Acted In Self-Defense In 10 Freeway Shooting: Report

SANTA MONICA, CA – Prosecutors found that officers acted in lawful self-defense when fatally shooting an attempted murder suspect on Feb.6, 2017 in Santa Monica, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office was announced Thursday.

California Highway Patrol officers fatally shot Gerardo Vasquez, 52, following a report of a pedestrian on the I-10 Freeway in West Los Angeles. Vasquez ignored multiple commands to drop a knife and fled onto surface streets, putting Officers Alfredo Lopez, Brandon Rains and Aaron Lowery "in imminent and reasonable fear for their lives, and the lives of their fellow officers, when he charged at the officers armed with a knife after refusing multiple orders to drop the weapon,'' according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors found that the officers "responded with reasonable deadly force during the first volley of gunfire," and that there was insufficient evidence to prove that they didn't act in lawful self-defense and defense of others during two subsequent volleys of gunfire as Vasquez was on the ground already wounded.

City News Service contributed to this post; Image via Shutterstock