Ever since the January night Christian Diaz Rendon’s family and loved ones watched a Phoenix police officer blow off a part of his head with a single rifle round while he restrained a mentally ill and armed intruder in his South Phoenix home, they’ve been asking questions and seeking justice for his killing. Now, they’ve taken the next step and filed a lawsuit in federal court.
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Rendon, 36, was shot and killed by Phoenix police officer Jason Valenzuela on the evening of Jan. 26 in his home in Estrella Village. Rendon and his family had called 911 because their landlord’s son, Edgar Ledezma Garcia, had arrived armed and begun shooting. While they waited for help, Rendon subdued Garcia. When Valenzuela arrived, he saw Rendon through the front door punching the intruder and holding him in a chokehold.
“Show your fucking hands,” He shouted. Less than a second later, he fired one shot from his rifle, killing Rendon, the wrong man.
“Besides shooting someone that you couldn’t even identify as the suspect. You didn’t even take a breath and wait to see if your command would be complied with,” said David Chami, the family’s attorney. “In my view, that’s not by accident. The show me your hands is for the body cam. The stop resisting is for the body cam. They’re trained to say those things.”
Ultimately, Chami said the horrible outcome could have been avoided.
“That’s not the appropriate, you know, fair warning that you should give someone before you blow their head off,” said Chami.
Rendon’s family and friends who witnessed the tragedy filed a lawsuit on Sept. 29 in the District of Arizona against the city of Phoenix, Valenzuela, and other unnamed officers who responded to the call that January evening. The multiple plaintiffs, who include Rendon’s children and domestic partner Mariana Gonzalez, all either witnessed the killing, were endangered by it, or are wrongful death beneficiaries. They are suing the city and the officers on multiple counts, including excessive deadly use of force, wrongful death, assault, and emotional distress. They also seek to hold the city accountable for Valenzuela’s use of force training.
Ashley Patton, Phoenix’s deputy communications director, declined to comment for this story because of the pending litigation.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute Valenzuela for the shooting, a decision that outraged the family. The Phoenix Police Department did not respond in time with updates on the status of its internal investigation into the incident for this story. Rendon was the first of nine people killed by Phoenix police officers so far this year.
‘He shot the wrong guy’
In the immediate aftermath of the fatal shooting, family said that they’d told 911 and responding officers, including Valenzuela, that Garcia had already been subdued. Body camera footage released by the department showed someone standing outside the front door yelling to Valenzuela and other responding officers. The person could be heard saying: “Over here! They’ve got him on the ground!”
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A few minutes later, after shooting Rendon, Valenzuela could be heard saying to a fellow officer that he’d thought Rendon was stabbing Garcia.
Notes from an investigator on the scene, included in a 922-page report by the Arizona Department of Public Safety obtained by Phoenix New Times through a public records request, described Valenzuela as “emotionally distraught” and unable to be interviewed about the incident that night. The heavily redacted report also found that Garcia, the intruder, was off his medications for a mental illness and his sister had spent the day trying to find him to give them to him. When he arrived at Rendon’s home, he was looking for “Alex” who did not exist and whom he said was plotting to kill him.
Chami said Gonzales, Rendon’s domestic partner, does not blame Garcia, who is facing felony murder charges for Rendon’s killing.
The complaint paints a picture of a harrowing night where many of the plaintiffs witnessed Valenzuela fatally shoot Rendon within a second of ordering him to show his hands while he restrained Garcia. They were then held at gunpoint by unnamed officers, and Gonzalez was handcuffed.
One plaintiff, Lucio Rojas, a family friend, had been helping Rendon restrain Garcia, Chami told the New Times. When Valenzuela arrived, he was underneath Garcia while Rendon was on top. When Valenzuela fired his fatal shot, Rojas got covered in Rendon’s blood.
“You just picked one of the three people, shot him, and killed him. And couldn’t have known you were shooting the right guy,” Chami said.
The months since the shooting have taken a toll on the family.
“Not good is an understatement,” Chami said about how the plaintiffs have held up since the chaotic shooting.
One of Rendon’s sons, a young man who was shot in the foot by Garcia, was standing in Valenzuela’s line of sight holding a toddler when Valenzuela fired, Chami said. If he’d missed, he could have shot them both instead.
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“He missed anyway, I mean,” Chami continued, “he shot the wrong guy.”