Officer Defended in Fatal Shooting of Suspect
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Ventura police said one of their detectives had no choice but to fatally shoot a teenager suspected of car theft after the youth pulled a knife during a fight with the officer in the parking lot of a downtown motel.
“There was just no time for talking. They were less than three feet away” from each other, Ventura Police Sgt. Brock Avery said Friday.
“The officer was close and the threat was immediate.”
The suspect, Randy Reeves, 19, of Ventura, was dead when the ambulance reached Ventura County Medical Center on Thursday shortly after the 7 p.m. shooting.
The officer, whose name was not released, shot the suspect in the confrontation outside the Topper Motel & Liquor store in the 1600 block of Thompson Boulevard.
The detective was placed on paid leave, a standard procedure in such cases.
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