Joel Acevedo was killed by an Anaheim policeman on July 22, 2012. According to an eyewitness quoted in the OC Weekly, Acevedo was executed by the police.
Acevedo’s family is hosting a candlelight vigil to mark the anniversary of his death, on Monday, July 2, 2013 at 6:30 pm, at West Guinida Lane, not far from South Iris St., in Anaheim.
Here are a few excerpts from the OC Weekly’s account of what happened to Acevedo:
Acevedo, 21, was riding in a 2003 silver Lexus SUV driven by Vanessa Janine Duran. Jose Gaudencio Hernandez was also a passenger in the vehicle that police later reported as stolen. At around 11:20 p.m. on the night of July 22, 2012, according to the DA report, they were headed eastbound on West Guinida Lane.
Traveling westbound in a gang suppression unit were three Anaheim police officers: Trang Pham, Daniel Lambaren and Phillps. The two vehicles crossed paths when Phillips, the driver, reported recognizing Duran.
The marked APD patrol unit made a U-turn and began following the SUV for the stated reason that the license plate was not illuminated as mandated by law. Another traffic violation was noted before an accelerated pursuit commenced northbound on Iris Street. Attempting later to turn back on Guinida Lane, the SUV jumped the curb, blowing out its front tires as the three occupants took off running.
Hernandez was said to have dropped and then picked up an object as he fled. Phillips stated that he believed the object was a firearm. Hernandez was later detained by Lambaren, but the report does not specify the alleged object or if it was ever recovered by police. Duran and Acevedo ran in different directions. Officer Phillips, in a voluntary statement given an entire eight days after the incident, claimed that he entered a parking lot between two apartment complexes in pursuit of Acevedo. There, as he approached a white Honda SUV, the officer says he saw a shadow and heard a gunshot at which point felt his life to be threatened.
Phillips, an officer involved in the fatal 2009 shooting of Caesar Cruz in Anaheim, went on to claim that a dark shadow emerged towards the front of the second vehicle and when he heard a second gunshot, returned fire shooting four rounds from his .45 Caliber Glock Pistol. “I just had a dark shadow moving,” the officer is quoted as saying. “As soon as I got the dark shadow, I shot.”
Police claim Acevedo fell to his right side with a semi-automatic pistol clutched in his right hand. As the man laid twitching, Phillips states that he approached him, kicked the gun from his hand where it fell between Acevedo’s legs. The above photo from the scene was released last summer showing the weapon positioned as stated by Phillips. A dying Acevedo was handcuffed, according to the report, and rolled on his back.
The autopsy, which spared its usual emphasis on gang-affiliated tattoos, noted three gunshot wounds sustained by the 21-year old, including fatal ones to the head and lower neck, which severed his aorta. Unlike with Manuel Angel Diaz, who was shot and killed in an officer-involved shooting on Anna Drive the day before, no independent autopsy was ever conducted.
Neither officer Pham nor Lambaren witnessed Acevedo firing, though both reported hearing three to four gunshots. Duran, the driver, successfully evaded arrest that night, but would eventually be taken into custody at a later time. The statement she gave to the OCDA recounts a wholly different scenario, with an explosive claim: Anaheim PD “executed” Acevedo.
Click here to read the rest of the OC Weekly’s article about the killing of Acevedo.