At the top of the newscast we told you about a mental patient who is accused of the brutal double murder of two teenaged girls. And while that story shows the dangers of having the mentally unstable in the civilian population, the dangers are not only to civilians. Tat was proven when a 23-year-old mental patient was shot and killed yesterday, not by the police, but by an armed civilian and tonight the family of Daron Zuniga say he shouldn't have been killed. Daron was involved in an altercation with police yesterday and by the time it was over, Daron was dead, two cops were injured, and a civilian had pulled the trigger. How did it happen and why? We tried to find out.
Keith Swift Reporting,
Yesterday evening Daron Zuniga was sitting on the roof of this vacant house on Hudson Street when a concerned neighbor called police. Two constables responded and ordered Zuniga to come down. Press Officer G. Michael Reid says Zuniga refused.
G. Michael Reid, Police Press Officer
"The guy refused after repeated call to come off the roof and therefore the police proceeded up to try and get him down to find out what the situation was. When the first police officer got up he actually grabbed on to the police officer and pushed him off the roof."
PC Usher was pushed off the roof while Orio desperately held on to this gutter, this is what separated him from a dangerous tumble unto concrete stairs below. And as Orio held on, he was delivered from that near certain fall by an armed civilian.
G. Michael Reid,
"The individual proceeded to bite the police officer and tried to throw him also off the roof. That is when a civilian who was in the area came to the aid of the police and was urging the individual to desist, which he did not. This individual fired a single shot from a licensed revolver, a firearm anyway. Therefore he fired a second shot which we believe might have caused some injury to this guy."
Keith Swift,
The guy's family says that all police needed to do was talk to him and he would have come down.
G. Michael Reid,
"Well he was spoken to before the police even tried to engage him. He was spoken to numerous times and you could always speculate but when you're in that position, then you know exactly what is going to happen because people that have mental disorders, at any give moment, just about anything can occur."
Keith Swift,
Did Daron Zuniga have to die?
G. Michael Reid,
"I don't know. At this point, certainly whenever there is a shooting that involves a police officer there is a full investigation and that investigation will be conducted."
Keith Swift,
Would you maybe agree then that excessive force was used?
G. Michael Reid,
"I wouldn't at all. I wouldn't hazard a guess in that area. It seems from all appearances, from all the evidence, that the officers were defending themselves. As a matter of fact, and in fact, they were the ones who were addressed."
Daron Zuniga's family of course disagrees. Noreen Williams says Daron was like a brother to her.
Noreen Williams, Family to Deceased
"I don't know the situation and I was not there but I think that there are ways that it could have been different. It could have been different and I hope for the future that they will go about doing things differently."
Keith Swift,
He bit one of the constable's ears.
Noreen Williams,
"Well yes he is a mental patient. Daron, from what I know, is like this: sometimes you would speak to him and he wouldn't even answer and I believe that is the case."
Keith Swift,
He also pushed an officer off the roof and was attempting to push another off the roof.
Noreen Williams,
"It could be said like that. We know that if we are all struggling on a roof, if we three of us are on the roof struggling, somebody is bound to fall."
Keith Swift,
Police say that with the biting of the ear and the shoving off the roof, the force used was necessary.
Noreen Williams,
"How many police officers do they have. Three or two? They have a lot of officers, they could have gone about it differently. I mean they could have gone, get some more police officers, and try to subdue him if this man is so strong. You didn't have to shoot him and, they keep saying on the news he got shot once but he got shot more than once. He got shot more than once. I don't think it's the mental people that have the problem, I think it's the police who mentally ill also because I think that there are ways to do things. You don't have to kill somebody to arrest them or to...what was he doing on the roof. He wasn't bothering anybody. The house is an abandoned building, he wasn't trying to break in the house, he was sitting on the roof. I think that I don't know the situation, I wasn't there, so I cannot comment on if it was this or whatever but I think they could have gone about it differently and need to be more professional.
I want them to know we are not going to let up on it. We are going to fight until the end. It won't bring Daron back but for the other mental patients who might....we cannot blame them, that's life but he has a family and I want the police to know that we are going to do what we have to do. We're not going to leave it like that."
A post mortem is scheduled for tomorrow. Those in the area say they heard as many as 5 gunshots. Both constables Carlos Orio and Chris Usher are home recovering. Daron Zuniga was on anti-psychotic medication after an incident several years back when he was injured during a robbery. He reportedly was off his meds yesterday.
