11/4/98 Houston Chronicle Article on Pedro Oregon Navarro Shooting

Dovalina Urges DA to Take Oregon Case to a New Grand Jury

The following passage was taken fron the article below:

Rick Dovalina, national president of LULAC, said he is especially concerned that HPD Internal Affairs found the officers had violated the law in conducting the raid, but the grand jury had brought no charges.

He renewed his call for Holmes to try to bring charges against the officers.

"They are both supposed to be looking at the same evidence," Dovalina said. "Johnny Holmes needs to do the right thing and present the case to another grand jury."

24 shots came from 1 officer in Oregon case
Policeman fired until gun empty, then reloaded and kept firing

By BOB SABLATURA, Houston Chronicle, November 04, 1998

One of the officers nobilled in the death of Pedro Oregon Navarro fired his semiautomatic pistol at the 22-year-old man until the magazine was empty, then reloaded and continued firing.

In all, Officer David R. Barrera fired 24 of the 33 shots discharged in Oregon's southwest Houston apartment July 12, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Assistant District Attorney Ed Porter confirmed that Barrera fired most of the shots. While the medical examiner's office could not determine the exact caliber of the bullets that made the 12 wounds in Oregon's body, Porter said, three of the four bullets recovered from the body were fired from Barrera's weapon.

Porter, who was present on the scene a few hours after the shooting -- and reconstructed it during a walk-through with the officers involved -- suggested that the bullets that struck Oregon may have been some of the last shots that the officers fired.

"I strongly suspect that was the case," Porter said.

Richard Mithoff, an attorney representing Oregon's family, said it is "incomprehensible" that one of the officers paused to reload his weapon.

"They had no grounds to be in the apartment, and no grounds to open fire," Mithoff said. "And if this is true, there certainly was no grounds to reload and execute this guy lying on the ground."

Aaron Ruby, a member of the Justice for Pedro Oregon Coalition, said Barrera's actions could only be termed "homicidal and premeditated," and probably explain the numerous bullet holes in Oregon's back.

"If that fact was known to the grand jury, it makes their actions all the more outrageous," Ruby said. "I believe the people of Houston will be stunned when they learn of this."

Harris County District Attorney John B. Holmes Jr. said state law allows police officers to use deadly force if they believe it necessary for self-defense and can continue shooting "so long as they reasonably perceive" the threat continues.

"An analogy I use is that if it is OK to kill a guy dead, it is OK to kill him dead, dead, dead," Holmes said.

Holmes said it is also not uncommon for a police officer involved in a shooting to have no idea how many shots he fired.

Barrera, a five-year veteran of the Houston Police Department, was armed with a 9 mm Sig-Sauer semi-automatic pistol loaded with nylon-coated bullets.

According to the Police Department, after illegally entering Oregon's apartment with fellow members of the HPD gang task force in an unsuccessful search for drugs, Barrera and several other officers chased Oregon to his bedroom and kicked in the locked door. During the pursuit, Barrera's pistol discharged, striking one of his partners in the shoulder.

The officers said they believed they were being shot at, and two officers joined Barrera in firing at Oregon.

Barrera emptied his pistol, paused to reload a new magazine, and resumed firing, according to prosecutors.

Investigators later determined that Barrera fired a total of 24 rounds.

Barrera's weapon was originally loaded with a standard 16-round magazine, which held at least 14 rounds. He reloaded with an extended magazine holding even more rounds. The second magazine was not emptied, according to sources.

Officers David R. Perkins and Pete A. Herrada fired a total of nine rounds between them. Both officers were armed with similar .40-caliber handguns. Perkins carried a Sig-Sauer Model 40 and Herrada was armed with a Glock Model 23.

Prosecutors said only about 10 seconds elapsed from the time the shooting began to the time it ended.

Semi-automatic pistols typically are double-action on the first shot, meaning that pulling the trigger draws the hammer back -- cocking it -- and then releases it.

After the first shot, the hammer remains in a cocked position so less trigger-tension is required to fire the weapon, making it fire quicker. The officer can also aim the gun more accurately because it takes less movement of the trigger to discharge shots.

Oregon's body was hit 12 times, nine times in the back, once in the back of the shoulder, and once in the back of his left hand. In addition, one shot entered the top of his head, exiting above the right ear.

At least nine shots entered his body at a downward angle, suggesting he was shot while face-down on the floor. Four bullets were recovered from Oregon's body, and numerous bullet fragments were found underneath the carpet beneath the body.

The body was face-down, with his head toward the doorway through which the police officers were firing.

Attorneys for the Oregon family dispute the police officers' version of events, and say Oregon was not in the front of the apartment when police illegally barged in.

"It is my understanding that he was in the bedroom," Mithoff said.

They also contend that some of the officers' shots were fired through the bedroom wall, indicating they were blindly firing into the room.

Porter said he has examined numerous crime scenes involving police shootings during his career and is amazed just how often shots fired by police officers miss their mark.

"Most people think an officer fires a weapon and someone gets shot," Porter said. "Often that is just not the case."

Holmes said the grand jury heard evidence regarding all the shots fired, the trajectory of the bullets, the position of the officers and the medical examiner's reports regarding wounds to Oregon's body.

"The specific number of times and the path of the projectiles was known to the grand jury," Holmes said.

After hearing all the evidence, a grand jury cleared five of the six officers -- including Barrera -- of all charges. One officer was charged with a misdemeanor offense of criminal trespass.

Earlier this week, all six officers were fired by Chief C.O. Bradford for violating the law and ignoring department procedures.

Barrera's attorney did not respond to a request for an interview.

He renewed his call for Holmes to try to bring charges against the officers.

"They are both supposed to be looking at the same evidence," Dovalina said. "Johnny Holmes needs to do the right thing and present the case to another grand jury."