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Witness accounts vary on fatal shooting by off-duty SoCal officer
The Associated Press
Article Launched:03/11/2008 02:27:19 AM PDT
TEMECULA, Calif.—Witnesses are giving varying accounts of Saturday night's shooting by an off-duty Costa Mesa police officer during a fight.
Meanwhile, Riverside County sheriff's officials on Monday released the names of the two men who were shot.
Shaun Vilan, 30, was hit in the chest and died Saturday at a hospital. His acquaintance, Taylor Willis, 22, was hit in the leg and survived.
Sheriff's spokesman Jerry Franchville said his agency is leaving it up to the Costa Mesa police to decide whether to release the name of the officer involved. Police officials declined to do that, only saying that the officer had not been placed on administrative leave and has been on the force at least 10 years.
The officer was hospitalized Saturday night with a head laceration that took several staples to closed.
The shooting happened at about 7:20 p.m. Saturday outside the Bank of Mexican Food restaurant on Main Street.
Earlier in the evening, the off-duty officer got into an argument with Vilan inside the restaurant. The restaurant's owner, Craig Puma, said the officer had not been drinking alcohol at his establishment and did not appear drunk. The officer had mistakenly slapped the behind of a woman in Vilan's group, Puma said, thinking it was someone he knew. Puma said it was a mistake and the officer apologized.
But Nicole Kitley, a friend of Vilan's, said it didn't happen quite like that.
"He slapped me really hard," she said, and when she turned around, "He said, 'Oh, I thought you were my sister.'"
"I could tell he was very drunk," she said, adding the officer did not apologize. "He was being very confrontational," and Vilan spoke up for her, although things ended there without violence.
It was about an hour later when Vilan and his group ran into the officer and his group outside the restaurant and a confrontation occurred. Police said Villas' group began beating the officer.
"Witnesses said some men were beating the officer pretty badly, possibly kicking him in the head," Temecula police Chief Jerry Williams said Saturday night. "He had identified himself as a police officer."
The officer drew his gun and fired what witnesses estimated at five to eight shots.
Villas' group, meanwhile, said the man did not identify himself as a police officer before he began shooting. He only did so, they said, when Temecula police arrived.
Riverside sheriff's homicide investigators are working the case, and the Costa Mesa police also are doing an internal investigation.
Witness accounts vary on fatal shooting by off-duty SoCal officer
The Associated Press
Article Launched:03/11/2008 02:27:19 AM PDT
TEMECULA, Calif.—Witnesses are giving varying accounts of Saturday night's shooting by an off-duty Costa Mesa police officer during a fight.
Meanwhile, Riverside County sheriff's officials on Monday released the names of the two men who were shot.
Shaun Vilan, 30, was hit in the chest and died Saturday at a hospital. His acquaintance, Taylor Willis, 22, was hit in the leg and survived.
Sheriff's spokesman Jerry Franchville said his agency is leaving it up to the Costa Mesa police to decide whether to release the name of the officer involved. Police officials declined to do that, only saying that the officer had not been placed on administrative leave and has been on the force at least 10 years.
The officer was hospitalized Saturday night with a head laceration that took several staples to closed.
The shooting happened at about 7:20 p.m. Saturday outside the Bank of Mexican Food restaurant on Main Street.
Earlier in the evening, the off-duty officer got into an argument with Vilan inside the restaurant. The restaurant's owner, Craig Puma, said the officer had not been drinking alcohol at his establishment and did not appear drunk. The officer had mistakenly slapped the behind of a woman in Vilan's group, Puma said, thinking it was someone he knew. Puma said it was a mistake and the officer apologized.
But Nicole Kitley, a friend of Vilan's, said it didn't happen quite like that.
"He slapped me really hard," she said, and when she turned around, "He said, 'Oh, I thought you were my sister.'"
"I could tell he was very drunk," she said, adding the officer did not apologize. "He was being very confrontational," and Vilan spoke up for her, although things ended there without violence.
It was about an hour later when Vilan and his group ran into the officer and his group outside the restaurant and a confrontation occurred. Police said Villas' group began beating the officer.
"Witnesses said some men were beating the officer pretty badly, possibly kicking him in the head," Temecula police Chief Jerry Williams said Saturday night. "He had identified himself as a police officer."
The officer drew his gun and fired what witnesses estimated at five to eight shots.
Villas' group, meanwhile, said the man did not identify himself as a police officer before he began shooting. He only did so, they said, when Temecula police arrived.
Riverside sheriff's homicide investigators are working the case, and the Costa Mesa police also are doing an internal investigation.