# Richmond, CA OIS



## RodneyFarva (Jan 18, 2007)

Richmond, CA - Oakland and Richmond police released bodycam video of a gun battle with a kidnapping suspect who was believed to have just dumped a Vallejo woman's body from a van onto the side of the road (video below).

The incident began at about 7:35 a.m. on April 16 when family members called Vallejo police about the disappearance of 29-year-old Tamisha Thomas, KPIX reported.

Family members called the police after Thomas went out to breakfast with 24-year-old Juan Ayon-Barraza and didn't return.
Ayon-Barraza allegedly called her family and mocked them after he attacked Thomas, and then disappeared for several hours, KPIX reported.

Then a witness spotted him dumping a woman's body, wrapped up in a blanket, out of a white van onto the side of the road near Pinehurst Road and Skyline Boulevard.

Officers spotted the van the witness described nearby in Moraga and tried to pull it over, but the driver fled and led police on a 20-minute pursuit across three different jurisdictions, KPIX reported.

Ayon-Barraza raced through city streets at 100 mph and exited the freeway in Richmond.

Then he pointed a handgun out the window at officers in the middle of a residential area.

Multiple Oakland police officers and a Richmond officer opened fire in response to the threat, KPIX reported.

Richmond Police Chief Bisa French said Richmond Police Officer Joe DeOrian saw the driver raise a gun and fired several shots through his windshield and driver's side window at Ayon-Barraza as the white van passed him, The Mercury News reported.
That's when the van crashed into an Oakland police SUV and ran over the Oakland police officers who had been standing next to the vehicle.

It's not known if Ayon-Barraza was shot before his van barreled into the police officer and vehicle, or if the crash was a result of him losing control of the vehicle after he was hit, The Mercury News reported.

Bodycam video showed Officer DeOrian reloaded his service weapon and fired at least twice more into the van after the crash.

The officer who had been struck by the van was not able to get up or otherwise remove himself to safety.

Video from a police helicopter showed other officers grabbed the wounded officer and dragged him to safety behind a vehicle as officers continued firing on the van.

Then they quickly shoved him into the back of a patrol vehicle to transport him to the hospital.

In the video, it appeared an officer thought the wounded officer had been shot.
"Where were you shot? Where were you shot?" multiple officers can be heard asking.

The wounded officer told them he'd been run over, not shot, the video showed.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to KPIX.

Police said that Ayon-Barraza had an active arrest warrant related to a prior domestic violence case when he had allegedly held a knife to a woman's throat and sexually assaulted her in front of her child.

His latest victim, Thomas, was transported to the hospital where she remained on life support for several weeks before she died, The Mercury News reported.

Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING - Graphic Violence and Obscene Language:


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## LA Copper (Feb 11, 2005)

I wonder what's up with the trend lately to start shooting through our windshields, even when we're driving a patrol car at high speeds. We hardly, if ever, used to see this before but in the last two years or so, we have been. 

Something we need to be better at is to remain as calm as possible during these incidents. Two of the officers here who are trying to help the injured officer are just a bit too excited. This doesn't help an already tense situation.

Kudos to these guys for standing up to this violent suspect.


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## RodneyFarva (Jan 18, 2007)

LA Copper said:


> I wonder what's up with the trend lately to start shooting through our windshields, even when we're driving a patrol car at high speeds.


I have noticed it too, my guess is that a range officer pissed a round through his cruiser during range day prompting the phrase "its a new technique" or "I meant to do that"


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## Bloodhound (May 20, 2010)

LA Copper said:


> I wonder what's up with the trend lately to start shooting through our windshields, even when we're driving a patrol car at high speeds. We hardly, if ever, used to see this before but in the last two years or so, we have been.
> 
> Something we need to be better at is to remain as calm as possible during these incidents. Two of the officers here who are trying to help the injured officer are just a bit too excited. This doesn't help an already tense situation.
> 
> Kudos to these guys for standing up to this violent suspect.


We actually started incorporating this into our training at the range a couple years ago. Brought out some junk cars to use. It's obviously not the go-to move but if you find yourself in that situation it is certainly better to have already done it in a training environment. And btw, it's freaking LOUD shooting inside a vehicle, even with ear protection.


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## LA Copper (Feb 11, 2005)

Bloodhound said:


> We actually started incorporating this into our training at the range a couple years ago. Brought out some junk cars to use. It's obviously not the go-to move but if you find yourself in that situation it is certainly better to have already done it in a training environment. And btw, it's freaking LOUD shooting inside a vehicle, even with ear protection.


We've done it also, along with shooting into vehicles and not always paper targets or steel plates. Agreed that it's good to have the knowledge and have already practiced it, it just seems lately it's happening a lot... some of which aren't too good. Just check out the Anaheim PD incident from a year or two ago. That was a nightmare.


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## res2244 (Feb 28, 2020)

This video was like the index incident in showing me the realities of OIS on the road.
I remember seeing this 2 years ago and from a precursory view I saw it as "why the hell are these patrolmen acting as if they are in Grand Theft Auto 5" but I knew that in the world of 21st century policing, the threat of a firearm being shot from a fleeing or even a non-fleeing vehicle is very real and extremely dangerous.


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## Drebbin (May 1, 2015)

Sign Arms up in Epping NH. has a class that trains you how to shoot from inside a vehicle out and from outside into it.
It was a really good class. Anyone can go not just law enforcement.


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## 02136colonel (Jul 21, 2018)

Drebbin said:


> Sign Arms up in Epping NH. has a class that trains you how to shoot from inside a vehicle out and from outside into it.
> It was a really good class. Anyone can go not just law enforcement.


Why does anyone who is not law enforcement or military, need to know how to shoot into a vehicle? Some classes, especially that deal with tactics and officer safety, should be sworn LE only.


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## Drebbin (May 1, 2015)

I felt the same way at first. You learn some good tactics and you shoot vehicles with different weapons. The largest is a 50 cal.


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