CBS News 8 – San Diego, CA News Station – KFMB Channel 8
San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis announced Tuesday, Jan. 10 that the officer responsible for the September shooting of 38-year-old Ugandan immigrant Alfred Olango will not face criminal charges. Dumanis told media members that the officer’s actions were justified.
“We’ve determined that the officer’s use of deadly force was reasonable under the circumstances. And he bears no criminal liability for his actions,” Dumanis says.
El Cajon Police Officers responded to a 911 call made by Olango’s sister, Sarah, Sept. 27, 2016, claiming that he was acting erratically and unlike himself. She also made 911 respondents aware that her brother was mentally unbalanced.
The sister told officers that he was walking in and out of traffic and around the parking lot of a taco restaurant, Atlanta Black Star reported.
When officers approached the man, they reportedly told Olango to take his hands out of his pockets, but he refused initially. However, after several attempts, Olango complied.
Footage from incident showed the victim take his hands out of his pocket. The cellphone video also showed the man in a shooting stance with a gun-like object in his hands pointing it toward an officer. Dumanis said the officer on scene ducked and fired off four shots killing the man. The object Olango was holding at the time of the shooting was later determined to be a cylindrical, bulky e-cigarette vaping device.
The victim’s father, Richard Olango, told the press the fight is not over. “What we are looking for now is justice,” the victim’s father, Richard Olango, says. “We are going to fight and our fight is for justice. We need justice for Alfred Olango.”
He added that the district attorney’s announcement warrants her termination: “I think the district attorney deserves to be demoted straight or FIRED!”
