Daly City Police Release Names Of Officers Involved In Fatal Shooting Of Man With Fake Gun
DALY CITY (BCN) -- Daly City on Thursday released the names of four officers involved in the fatal shooting of a 44-year-old San Francisco man earlier this month.
The officers named in the April 7 shooting of Roger Cornelius Allen are Lt. Michael Brennan and officers Rosa Brenes, Nicholas McCarthy and Cameron Newton. A news release from the city naming the officers did not specify which officer shot Allen.
Authorities have described the shooting of Allen as a struggle over what turned out to be a replica firearm.
The case is under investigation by the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office, and an administrative investigation by an impartial outside investigator will also be conducted.
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe on April 13 provided the first detailed account of the shooting of Allen. Wagstaffe also said that there is no video evidence of what took place and that "Daly City police officers are not presently equipped with body cameras."
An officer saw three people -- two men in the front, including Allen in the front passenger seat, and a woman in the back seat -- in a parked truck with a damaged rear tire at about 2:30 p.m. in the 700 block of Niantic Avenue and stopped to talk to the driver, according to the district attorney's summary.
A second and a third officer arrived and stood on the passenger side of the truck as the first officer talked to the driver, who was cooperative, Wagstaffe said.
The front passenger door was open and the officers "saw what appeared to be a Glock firearm (handgun) on the lap of passenger Roger Allen," according to the account. "The officers yelled out there was a gun and Mr. Allen picked the gun up and held it in his hand."
One of the officers leaned in and grabbed Allen's hand in an effort to prevent the gun from being fired and a struggle ensued, with the weapon at one point directed at the officer and driver standing on the other side of the truck, then at the officer struggling with Allen, Wagstaffe said.
When the second officer on the passenger side "saw the gun pointed at the face of the officer struggling with Mr. Allen, he reported he feared that his fellow officer was going to be shot in the face," Wagstaffe said. "He fired his service handgun at Mr. Allen twice, with one shot striking Mr. Allen in the chest and the other shot missing and lodging inside the vehicle."
Allen was given emergency aid before he was taken to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he died about 90 minutes later, according to the account.
The suspected handgun "turned out to be a replica handgun that was stamped with the word Glock. It is not a firearm. There was no orange tape around the tip of the gun to show that it was not a real firearm," Wagstaffe said.
During the struggle, the officer outside the driver's side "was struck in the forehead by an unidentified small object causing a minor abrasion," Wagstaffe said.
Anyone with information relevant to the case is asked to call the District Attorney's Office Chief Inspector William Massey at (650) 363-4883.
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