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Pasadena police have arrested the man who reported to 9-1-1 operators that the two men who rifled through his car and stole his laptop were armed with guns. When police responded to the armed robbery call this Saturday, they fatally shot one of the suspects as he fled.
But the gunned-down suspect Kendrec McDade, 19, turned out not to be armed. Now in an unusual twist the caller Oscar Carrillo, 26, has been arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter, according to City News Service. The District Attorney's Office has 48 hours to decide how to respond to the request to charge Carrillo. (You can listen to Carrillo's 9-1-1 call embedded from the Pasadena Star-News below.)
Police say a videotape from that night shows a 17-year-old suspect burglarizing the car while McDade acted as a lookout, the Star-News reports. The other suspect has been charged with grand theft, commercial burglary and failure to register as a gang member as a condition of probation.
But neither suspect was armed, and Carrillo later admitted that he lied in order to get a faster police response. He is being arrested on the theory that his false report led police to believe that McDade was armed and ultimately to the fatal shooting. Two police—one in a patrol car and the other on the ground—fired at McDade when they saw him reaching for his waistband. Officials say the officers believed he was reaching for a gun.
"The actions of the 9-1-1 caller set the minds of officers" Police Chief Phillip Sanchez told reporters at a press conference.
The District Attorney's office is reviewing the case as it does with all deadly officer-related shootings, and McDade's family and the ACLU is asking for an independent review into the case, according to the Times.
