Stockton Police Department officers need better training on their duty to aid the injured and the requirement to de-escalate crises when possible, the California Attorney General’s Office said, following its review of an officer’s killing of an unarmed civilian.
But the report issued Friday on the officer-involved shooting of Jory Jamarr Lester on Sept. 11, 2023, concluded that criminal charges against Officer Marcos Alonso were not appropriate.
Alonso, who joined the force in 2020, shot 34-year-old Lester after he displayed a rifle-like piece of a toy crossbow.
The incident began about 9:51 p.m. when police received a report that someone was trying to kick down a door and enter a window of a room at a Red Roof Inn.
Officers located Lester and ordered him to show them his hands and stop moving. Lester raised his hands but continued walking away from the officers. He then abruptly turned around and pulled what appeared to be a firearm from his waist area.
“When Mr. Lester began to raise the object toward the officers, he was fatally shot,” the report said. “After the shooting, investigators discovered that the object held by Mr. Lester was part of a suction dart crossbow and that he did not possess a firearm.”
The shooting occurred about 11 seconds after Officer Alonso made first contact with Lester, according to the report.
Officers maintained their positions near their patrol car until more police arrive, then rendered medical aid to Lester, just over five minutes after the shooting, according to the report.
The shooting was reviewed under a state law that requires the Department of Justice to investigate all incidents of officer-involved shootings resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian.
The department “concluded that there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the involved officer did not act in lawful self-defense or defense of others,” according to the report.
However, the investigation made two recommendations.
The first is that the Stockton Police Department “should evaluate its training on the requirement to render aid to injured persons and develop any necessary training to provide officers specific guidance on how to determine when officers can more promptly provide medical care,” according to the report.
The second recommendation was that the department “should amend its current use of force policy to ensure the policy clearly states that de-escalation and crisis intervention are mandatory when feasible” and “ensure they are consistent with state law.”
“While there is a provision in the policy related to de-escalation, that provision only suggests that de-escalation could be employed under certain circumstances, as opposed to the state law that affirmatively requires de-escalation when feasible,” the report said.