Chino officials release full names of officers involved in shootout

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Chino shootout bystander died holding food

Will Bigham, Staff Writer

Created: 03/25/2009 07:07:50 PM PDT

In the moments before she shot an innocent bystander last month during a shootout at a Chino pizzeria, a Chino police officer said the man approached her holding something she couldn't identify.

A recently released sheriff's report on the shooting said Daniel Balandran, 23, matched the physical description of two men who had robbed a Papa John's restaurant on Central Avenue. The suspects were shooting at police officers near the front of the restaurant and attempting to flee.

Two officers were stationed behind the restaurant. Balandran, of Rubidoux, ran toward them dressed in black - as were the suspects - and did not respond to orders to show his hands, the Chino officer told a San Bernardino County sheriff's detective.

When Balandran put his arms forward toward the officer - still holding something the officer couldn't identify - the officer believed Balandran was going to shoot her.

She fired one round at Balandran, killing him.

After Balandran was shot, officers discovered that the item he was holding was food from a McDonald's located next to the Papa John's.

The city has not identified the officer who shot the bystander, but a witness said the officer was a woman.

The shooting details and others are contained in a five-page Sheriff's Department summary of the Feb. 1 shootout, during which Balandran was killed, the two robbery suspects were critically wounded, and an officer was wounded.

The summary was found in the court file of the two alleged
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robbers - Joel Anthony Jaquez and Edward Ramon Cisneros - who have pleaded not guilty to murder and 13 other felonies in connection with the incident at 12615 Central Ave.

The last names of the officers who were involved in the shootout and subsequently suspended have also been released.

Four are identified by last name in the district attorney's filing document against Jaquez and Cisneros. The last names of the other two officers were released by the city of Chino.

The last names are Lisner, Mutrux, Tamparong, Villaran, Paul and Mensen. Chino spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden refused to give the officers' first names.

Two of the officers - the one who shot Balandran and the one who was wounded - remain on leave, Van Der Linden said.

The other four officers have returned from leave.

Balandran's friend, Carlos Orozco of Riverside, was with Balandran when he was shot. Orozco has said the officer who shot Balandran was a woman, said Mark Algorri, an attorney who represents Balandran's family.

In statements to a sheriff's detective and to Algorri, Orozco disputes the officer's account of the events that led to Balandran's shooting.

Orozco told detectives that he and Balandran picked up food from the McDonald's drive-through, then parked their car in the McDonald's lot.

They saw police officers arrive at the front of the Papa John's, and when the shooting started they left the car and ran toward the back of Papa John's to get away, Orozco said.

Two officers had been positioned at the rear of Papa John's and started moving toward the front of the restaurant, in the direction of Balandran and Orozco.

One officer crouched behind a parked car, and as Balandran and Orozco passed the car, she shot Balandran, Orozco told police detectives. "Orozco put his hands up and told them they shot the wrong person," the police report says.

Orozco maintains that the officer did not order them to show their hands and shot without warning, Algorri said.

Algorri said the officer shot Balandran with an AR-15 assault rifle.

Van Der Linden said the Sheriff's Department is still investigating Balandran's death and has yet to turn over its reports from the investigation to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office.

The District Attorney's Office will decide whether to file criminal charges against the Chino officer after reviewing the reports, Van Der Linden said.