A California Department of Justice investigation has concluded that there was no criminal wrongdoing by the eight Hemet police officers who fatally shot a 26-year-old man who pointed what turned out to be a replica firearm at them as he sat intoxicated on a sidewalk on July 4, 2024.
Family members and friends of Jimmy Lopez protested the shooting, telling the City Council that Lopez posed no threat to the officers and that the Police Department needed to change how it handled such confrontations. They believed Lopez was improving as a person and working consistently.
“I’m never gonna see him be a good father to his kids,” Lopez’s mother, Mandy Diaz, said at a news conference about a month after her son’s death. “They took his life at a young age. He didn’t deserve this.”
Lopez had daughters, ages 4 and 6, who were primarily being raised by their mother, a former girlfriend of Lopez.
But the DOJ report, released Monday, Sept. 29, in addition to finding no criminal liability, did not recommend changes to Hemet police tactics. A state law requires the DOJ to investigate fatal shootings by police of unarmed civilians.
An internal Hemet Police Department investigation, which is in its final stages, has so far found no violations of the use-of-force policy, according to Judith Gibson, a department spokeswoman.
Lopez was suffering from “severe depression primarily stemming from the tumultuous relationship with his daughters’ mother and not being able to see his children,” at the time of the shooting, the DOJ report said, citing the grandparents who had raised him since he was a child.
“When Mr. Lopez would drink, he would get emotional and stubborn; Mr. Lopez used alcohol to escape his mental and emotional struggles,” the report added.
Lopez often carried an airsoft pistol with him, as if it were a real gun, relatives told investigators.
On July 4, Lopez had a contentious phone conversation with the children’s mother and went to the After 5 Lounge at 133 N. Harvard St. shortly after midnight. Bartenders there said Lopez showed up sober before drinking two shots of whiskey and about one-third of a 34-ounce glass of beer.
Before long, he could no longer stand easily, a bartender told investigators.
“She stated that in her 14 years as a bartender, she had never seen anyone get drunk so fast without there being signs leading up to that level of intoxication. (She) assumed Mr. Lopez may have taken something prior to coming into the bar, which when mixed with alcohol, suddenly kicked in.”
The autopsy showed Lopez had marijuana and amphetamines in his system, as well as a blood-alcohol content of 0.43, more than five times the legal limit for driving of 0.08, the report said.
The bartender and customers assisted Lopez out of the bar, where he fell, dropped his cellphone and what appeared to be a black handgun.
A bartender then called 911 as Lopez stumbled toward Florida Avenue. Lopez eventually sat on the sidewalk on Florida between Harvard and Carmalita streets.
Officers arrived at 1:48 a.m. and ordered Lopez to put up his hands, which he did. They could see something next to his right buttocks, and one officer believed it was a pistol grip, he said over his radio. Lopez took a draw from a vape pen using his left hand. A moment later, Lopez reached toward his right buttock and retrieved the possible gun, the report said.
An officer fired a less-lethal rubber projectile that missed. Lopez then placed both hands on the possible gun and raised it in the direction of the officers, according to the report.
That’s when the officers fired, sending 69 rounds toward Lopez. The volleys were recorded on the officers’ body-worn cameras.
Investigators found a black, Glock-style airsoft gun three feet from Lopez’s head, the report said.
