Witness: Zambrano-Montes told Pasco police, ‘shoot me, kill me’

Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant released part of a special investigation Wednesday into the Pasco police shooting of an orchard worker that included previously unseen videos, witness interviews, crime lab reports and officer statements.

The nearly 600 pages of documents and videos detail the fatal confrontation between Antonio Zambrano-Montes, 35, and three police officers Feb. 10 at a Pasco intersection.

The information posted to a Franklin County website is the first installment in a series of expected releases from the prosecutor’s office before Sant makes a decision whether to criminally charge the officers. More documents are expected to be released July 8.

“I am committed to making a final decision (whether to charge the police officers who shot Zambrano-Montes) only after all information has been considered,” Sant said in a news release. “The right decision is more important than a quick decision.”

Several witnesses reported hearing Zambrano-Montes telling officers to kill him as he squared off with police in a dirt lot, according to documents in the report. Evidence collected during the investigation showed Zambrano-Montes threw several rocks at police.

Witness Chris Pirtle was at a stoplight on Lewis Street when he saw Zambrano-Montes cocking his arm to throw rocks at police and heard the Pasco man clearly yelling “shoot me, kill me,” he told an investigator the night of the shooting.

“You could see the size of the rocks,” Pirtle said. “They were good-sized rocks.”

A rock found near Zambrano-Montes’ body, which had bloodstains indicating he was carrying it while running from police, weighed 2.8 pounds and measured 11 by 15 inches.

Toxicology tests showed Zambrano-Montes was under the influence of methamphetamine during the incident.

The statements of Ryan Flanagan, Adam Wright and Adrian Alaniz were made public Wednesday for the first time since the shooting.

The three officers were interviewed nearly three months after firing at Zambrano-Montes 17 times at the crowded intersection.

All three officers were concerned for the safety of themselves and the public when they decided to fire at Zambrano-Montes, who hurled softball-sized rocks, according to statements they gave to investigators.

Wright and Flanagan, who has resigned from the department, fired a total of five shots at Zambrano-Montes, likely striking him at least once, during the first volley of gunfire, documents said. There were bloodstains in the crosswalk at Lewis Street where Zambrano-Montes fled.

The officers chased after Zambrano-Montes and fired a total of 12 more shots at the Mexican national, who died in front of a bakery on Lewis Street, documents said. Flanagan fired six more times, Wright fired five shots and Alaniz shot once. Alaniz and Flanagan also fired their Tasers prior to shooting.

It’s unclear which officers fired the fatal shots, documents said. Zambrano-Montes had at least seven gunshot wounds to the chin, jugular, forearm, buttock, arm, abdominal wall and chest.

A timeline released Wednesday showed about five minutes passed from the time Alaniz first arrived on scene to when Zambrano-Montes was shot.

Eight videos released

Cellphone video of the shooting has given the case national prominence, and led to numerous protests and calls for the three officers to be prosecuted.

A total of eight videos were released Wednesday and show different angles of the confrontation and subsequent shooting.

Dash cam video from an officer arriving on scene shows Zambrano-Montes hurling a large rock at an officer who is pointing what appears to be a Taser at him.

“Code 3,” an officer says over the radio. “He’s throwing rocks at us.”

It appears Zambrano-Montes throws another rock at officers before video shows Wright firing his gun.

Another video taken from a cellphone shows Zambrano-Montes turning and running away seconds before the initial shots were fired. He was shot dead seconds later.

Witnesses can be heard on video yelling at police shortly after Zambrano-Montes was killed.

“It was just a rock,” an unidentified man yelled.

‘He was not making sense’

Sixty-eight people, including firefighters, police officers and citizens, were interviewed by members of the Special Investigations Unit, a team of local police who investigated the shooting.

Miguel Estrada told police he had just left Fiesta Foods with his 9-year-old son when he saw Zambrano-Montes on the Lewis Street sidewalk talking and screaming.

“He was not making sense, looked like he was stressed out” and maybe on drugs, Estrada told Kennewick Detective Michael Weatherbee. “When I turned around there was four cops already gunning in there, parking, surrounding the area, and then the kid runs.”

Estrada did not know Zambrano-Montes and referred to him throughout the interview as a “kid.” He said he saw Zambrano-Montes grabbing golf ball-sized rocks from the landscaping and throwing them at people and at Pasco officers, but claimed there was “not a big sense of danger” as no one was hit by a rock during the incident.

“I turned around, I see them blow four shots at him,” he said. “You know, it’s like, what the heck? The guy only has rocks in his hands. There’s no danger of him having a gun or nothing. He was just throwing (little) rocks.”

Estrada said he could hear Zambrano-Montes scream to the officers, “If you’re going to shoot me, shoot me.”

Kristy Baker realized she had seen Zambrano-Montes shortly before the confrontation after watching the news a day after the shooting, documents said. She noticed Zambrano-Montes acting erratic as he crossed the street.

“He was hitting his head, it looked like, and then he was waving his arms around physically in the air above his head, like he was striking out at something that he couldn’t see, or that I couldn’t see,” she said. “And I remember thinking, ‘Oh, he’s probably mentally ill or high.’ ”

Mark Faith shot video from 10th Avenue of Zambrano-Montes throwing rocks at the officers in the dirt lot.

Faith told investigators Zambrano-Montes was clearly distraught, but it appeared the father of two was not trying to harm anyone and wanted to get out of the situation.

“My whole feeling was the whole thing really accelerated when all the other officers showed up,” Faith said in an interview. ‘It wasn’t so under control anymore. I feel like (Zambrano-Montes) was wanting to get out of there.”

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Witness: Zambrano-Montes told Pasco police, ‘shoot me, kill me’."