Gather, The Daily Mail and the Huffington Post, among others, have reported on the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man gunned down in his home by several SWAT officers with a search warrant.
J.G.O., was allegedly sound asleep - after working a 12 hour shift in a copper mine - when his wife, V.O., woke him as she was alarmed at noises she heard coming from just outside of their home, and then seeing a person in dark-colored clothing pass in front of a window in her kitchen.
J.G.O. then grabbed his AR-15 assault rifle - similar to the one he had used during his two tours in Iraq - to allegedly protect his wife and 4 year-old son.
Next came the sound of a loud siren followed by a noisy bang at the family's front door.
J.G.O. was stopped in his tracks at the door, as officers unloaded their own weapons. There were allegedly 71 rounds of SWAT team weapons, including four .40 caliber handguns and one AR-15, which entered J.G.O.'s body.
Less than a minute of the shooting was taped by a helmet cam worn by one of the SWAT officers, and has been leaked to YouTube. Heard in the viewing was nothing but sirens and shots, though police have claimed that they yelled "police" in both Spanish and English before breaking down the door.
There was allegedly only 18 seconds of time that passed between when the police announced who they were and J.G.O. had fallen to the floor. The shooting began 8 seconds after the announcement.
Police claim that if J.G.O. had not pointed his weapon at them they would not have been compelled to shoot him.
After the shooting, V.O. called 911 and said, "Hurry up, he's bleeding. I don't know why they shoot him. They open the door and shoot him. Please get me an ambulance."
V.O. was removed from the home by officers. The couple's son, allegedly left behind in the house at this time, wandered to the front door and saw his father's body.
Former SWAT officer and expert, C.D., said, "When you back up and look at why they're there in the first place and whether the search warrant was proper, my mind starts struggling. There are a lot of things that don't make a lot of sense."
Police further claim that J.G.O. was a suspect in a drug-trafficking organization.
The family has filed a multi-million dollar wrongful death lawsuit against the police department.
The county prosecutor's office has found the May 5 shooting incident to be justified. The sheriff's chief of investigations, R.K., said, "We know from our experiences that good people turn their lives around and do bad things, and this guy was bad irrespective of his honorable discharge as a Marine."
A co-worker of J.G.O.'s said, "I don't care what the cops say. I don't believe for one moment Jose was involved in anything illegal. They were judge, jury and executioner, and there was no excuse."
Loosing a loved one in a wrongful death is doubly difficult to deal with as you have the knowledge that it could have been prevented. Contact a personal injury lawyer today for help filing a lawsuit.