Family questions deaf man’s shooting by police
An Oklahoma City family is planning to hire an attorney after a police officer shot and killed their deaf, developmentally disabled son Tuesday night.
Magdiel Sanchez, 35, was killed about 8:15 p.m. at a home in the 220 block of SE 57 after he allegedly approached officers with what authorities described as a two-foot length of pipe, said Capt. Bo Mathews, a spokesman for the Oklahoma City Police Department.
Mathews said the shooting began after police had been notified of a hit-and-run wreck near SE 57 and Shields Boulevard. A witness at the scene told officers the driver fled and the vehicle was spotted less than a block away, at 229 SE 57.
Lt. Matthew Lindsey arrived at the scene and encountered Sanchez, who was holding a pipe in his right hand on the porch of the home. Lindsey called for backup and Sgt. Christopher Barnes responded.
Mathews said Lindsey had a Taser drawn and Barnes had a handgun
pointed at Sanchez as they ordered him to drop the pipe. Witnesses at the scene were yelling at the officers that Sanchez was deaf, but Mathews said it was unknown whether the officers heard them.
Both officers fired their weapons after Sanchez began to approach them. Mathews said Sanchez was about 15 feet away from the officers when he was shot. Witnesses said the Taser deployed at the same time Sanchez was hit by the gunfire.
Sanchez was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later. Neither officer was hurt.
Neighbor Julio Rayos, a spokesman for the Sanchez’s family, said the family is planning to hire an attorney.
“I don’t think they had to shoot him,” Rayos said.
Rayos, who lives on SE 57 east of Shields Boulevard and witnessed the shooting, said a number of people who were outside tried to tell officers that Sanchez was deaf before he was fatally shot.
“We were screaming that he can’t hear,” Rayos said.
Rayos, 37, said Sanchez also had developmental disabilities and was nonverbal.
“The guy does movements,” Rayos said. “He don’t speak, he don’t hear, mainly it is hand movements. That’s how he communicates. I believe he was frustrated trying to tell them what was going on.”
Rayos said Sanchez was a resident alien from Mexico who has lived with his family on the block about five years.
Jolie Guebara, who lives two houses from the shooting scene, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she heard five or six gunshots before looking outside and seeing police.
“He always had a stick that he would walk around with, because there’s a lot of stray dogs,” Guebara said.
Guebara said Sanchez, whose name she didn’t know, wrote notes to communicate with her and her husband when he would occasionally stop and visit if they were outside.
The pipe Sanchez carried was originally described as a large stick, but police revised that description Wednesday morning.
“Later investigation shows that this is going to be a metal pipe that’s about 2 foot long, and it’s wrapped in some type of material and at the end of it has a leather loop, like maybe you could put it around your wrist,” Mathews said.
Mathews said neither of the officers had a body camera, adding that Lindsey is a supervisor and was not outfitted with one and Barnes may not have had one issued.
Sanchez’s father, the suspected driver in the hit-and-run, confirmed to officers that his son was deaf. Magdiel Sanchez was not in the vehicle and had no known criminal history, Mathews said.
Sanchez’s father was not arrested in connection with the crash Tuesday night.
Barnes, an 8-year veteran of the Oklahoma City Police Department, has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting. The findings of the investigation will be presented to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office to determine whether the shooting was justified.
This is the fifth officer-involved shooting in Oklahoma City this year, four of which have been fatal.