Video of fatal shooting released
The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office on Monday night released body-worn camera footage of a fatal police shooting in Half Moon Bay last month.
The deputies involved in the shooting were also identified as John Baba and David Dominguez. Baba is a two-year veteran of the sheriff’s office and previously worked for another law enforcement agency. Dominguez started at the sheriff’s office in August 2016 as a correctional officer and became a deputy in September 2018.
The encounter occurred in the 800 block of Main Street at about 7:25 p.m. on May 5.
“This officer-involved shooting began with a 911 call regarding a woman walking downtown carrying a bottle of wine in one hand and a rifle in the other,” said Sheriff Carlos Bolanos in a recorded statement. “We later learned that rifle was a shotgun.”
In addition, the caller said the woman — identified as Sandra Lee Harmon, 56, of Eureka — had warned of an impending “race war,” according to an audio recording of the 911 call.
Harmon was also caught on security camera walking along Main Street carrying a gun.
The sheriff’s office said Dominguez was looking for additional witnesses when he knocked on the door to a motor home parked behind a restaurant at 845 Main St. and encountered Harmon. After a brief conversation, Harmon exited the motor home and reportedly pointed the shotgun at Dominguez. As Dominguez took cover, Harmon fired in his direction; Dominguez then returned fire, according to the sheriff’s office.
Dominguez did not have time to activate his bodyworn camera, the sheriff’s office said, but the second part of the encounter was recorded by Baba’s body-worn camera.
The footage shows Baba arriving at the scene to find the firearm on the ground and Harmon walking away with her hands in the air. But as the deputies repeatedly order her to get on the ground, she changes direction and appears to try to pick up the gun.
Baba and Dominguez open fire and Harmon falls to the ground, the footage shows.
The encounter was also captured from a different angle by a third deputy’s bodyworn camera. That deputy did not shoot at Harmon.
Harmon died en route to the hospital, according to the sheriff’s office. The deputies were not injured.
The investigation into the shooting of Harmon, a white woman, is continuing amid worldwide protests against police violence and racial inequality. The upheaval was touched off by the police killing of George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis on May 25.
“Our goal in releasing these videos, while still early in the investigation, is to provide our community with as much information as possible when we have a tragic incident such as this,” Bolanos said.