A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who fatally shot a trespassing suspect during an altercation at the Valencia Town Center mall will not face any criminal charges, the state Attorney General's Office announced Wednesday.
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The shooting by Deputy Lorena Gonzalez occurred around 10:45 p.m. Jan. 11, 2023, outside the Macy's department store in the mall in the 24000 block of Valencia Boulevard.
According to the AG's Office investigation, Gonzalez responded to the Macy's store on a report of a trespasser and confronted Christopher Mercurio, 50, who was described by witnesses as an aggressive homeless individual who refused to leave the location.
Gonzalez spoke to Mercurio and asked him to leave the area, but he refused and verbally threatened the deputy, according to the investigation. Mercurio eventually approached the deputy "and struck the left side of Deputy Gonzalez's head multiple times," the report states. The deputy backed away from the suspect and ordered him to stop, but he refused, prompting the deputy to draw her weapon and point it at Mercurio.
The suspect continued to advance on the deputy, prompting her to fire a single shot, causing Mercurio to pause briefly before he again stepped toward Gonzalez, who then fired a second shot, according to the report.
"After the second shot, Mr. Mercurio walked back towards the entrance of the Macy's and eventually lay down on the ground," according to the report.
Paramedics arrived and treated Mercurio, who was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
"Deputy Gonzalez fired her weapon at Mr. Mercurio based on her belief that she needed to stop Mr. Mercurio from potentially killing or inflicting great bodily injury to herself," according to the report. "Given the totality of the circumstances, Deputy Gonzalez's use of deadly force to defend against what she believed to be an imminent threat of death from Mr. Mercurio was reasonable."
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