Pacifica police officers justified in March shooting death, San Mateo DA finds
The officers who shot a Pacifica woman acted in self-defense and defense of others, according to the district attorney.
SAN MATEO COUNTY — Two Pacifica police officers who used deadly force in reaction to a woman pointing a gun first at one, then at the other were justified, the district attorney said Friday following an investigation.
San Mateo District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe concluded that there is no basis to file criminal charges against Pacifica Police Corporal Hayden Fry and Officer Kevin Contreras for the fatal shooting of 50-year-old Michelle Arrais on March 27, according to the report released Friday. Both officers who deployed their guns were acting in self-defense and defense of others, according to Wagstaffe’s statement.
Wagstaffe also determined that the officers’ belief in the need for lethal force was “reasonable” given the circumstances, according to the report.
“When the officers responded, the only reasonable assumption was that there was an armed and dangerous suspect in the proximity of the apartment complex who, minutes earlier, had demonstrated that she posed a threat of death or great bodily injury,” Wagstaffe wrote in the report.
The officers responded to a 911 call from Arrais’s son after she barged into his room and shot him twice in the arm, according to his testimony in the investigation. Arrais also shot and killed her dog.
Officers received the call — which was documented on previously-released video footage — just before 8 a.m. As officers arrived at the apartment building at 2562 Francisco Boulevard, a woman believed to be Arrais entered a white SUV and began to exit a parking lot. Fry and Contreras both yelled out for Arrais to stop, but she continued to drive forward toward the street.
As the vehicle approached, Arrais pointed a Glock handgun at Contreras. He fell to the ground, where he sustained abrasions to his elbow and knee. From the other side of the car, Fry made a commotion for a split second, in an attempt to take Arrais’s focus off Contreras, according to the DA’s report.
Arrais turned and pointed the gun toward Fry, who was only four or five feet away. Knowing he’d be killed if Arrais fired, Fry told investigators, he shot 10 times at Arrais. From the ground, Contreras shot four times.
Both officers told investigators that there was no time to use less-lethal force.
“She pointed a gun right at me,” Contreras said to investigators. “My life just kind of flashed through my eyes.”
The officers removed the gun from Arrais, and Fry performed CPR until paramedics arrived. In an autopsy, it was found that Arrais died due to a gunshot to the head, with other gunshot wounds as contributing factors.
The investigation found that the stories of Fry and Contreras, as well as those of other officers on scene, were supported by evidence and body cam footage.
Arrais’s son testified that his mother had bought the gun the night before and speculated that she was suffering from undiagnosed schizophrenia.
The Pacifica Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
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