City of Salinas releases names of all officers involved in shootings this year.

Four months after Salinas city officials said they would not release the names of police officers involved in shootings this year, they've revisited that decision and released the names. 

In June, when City Attorney Chris Callihan first responded to the Weekly and several other media outlets that had submitted Public Records Act requests, he argued that officer safety could be compromised by releasing the names of the officers involved. 

That has since changed, Callihan and Police Chief Kelly McMillin wrote in a follow-up letter Tuesday. 

"The previous threats seem to have subsided and current circumstances no longer justify witholding their identities," Callihan and McMillin wrote.

"The public's interest in disclosure of the identities, while not outweighing the Salinas police officers' safety, does weigh in favor of releasing their identities at this time." 

The release of identities covers four separate shooting incidents this year, an unprecedented number of officer-involved shootings for Salinas police. 

On March 20, 42-year-old Angel Ruiz was shot and killed by police in front of Wing Stop on Constitution Boulevard. Police say Ruiz had used an Airsoft pellet gun in a string of robberies. 

The officers involved are Sgt. Mark Lazzarini, Officer Brent DeBorde and William Yetter. They have 19, three and two years of service, respectively, on the Salinas Police Department. 

On May 9, officers shot and killed 26-year-old Osman Hernandez in the parking lot of a Mi Pueblo grocery store. He had been waving a lettuce knife about, and police responded to 911 calls to the scene. 

Callihan and McMillin's letter names two officers who fired, though three officers responded to the scene; the first officer fired a taser, but not a gun. 

Those officers are Derek Gibson and Sgt. George Lauricella, who have six and 18 years of experience, respectively, in the department. 

The most notorious of the four shootings happened on May 20 at the corner of Del Monte Avenue and North Sanborn Road, where two officers responded to a call that Carlos Mejia had broken into a home where he threatened to assault a woman, and also attempted to strangle a dog in the yard. 

When officers followed him, he removed a pair of garden shears from his backpack, and officers Josh Lynd and Sgt. Danny Warner fired, killing him.

The pursuit and shooting were captured on a cell phone video, which went viral and led to extensive protesting. Most of the protests remained peaceful, but the night after the shooting, a large crowd became violent, and in the melee one onlooker, 23-year-old Constantino Garcia, was shot and killed. As an officer responded to Garcia attempting to administer first aid, a protester threw a bottle, striking the officer in the head.

Lynd and Warner have 18 and 13 years of experience, respectively. 

The most recent shooting happened in the early morning hours of July 10 next to a church on Fairview Avenue, where 40-year-old Frank Alvarado was killed. 

Sgt. Brian Johnson, who has served for 10 years on SPD, and Officer Scott Sutton, who has served for 7, fired on Alvarado after he reportedly charged them holding an object like a gun. That object turned out to be a cell phone. 

All nine officers named in the letter have been cleared to return to duty. The Salinas Police Department is still investigating the first three incidents; the fourth is still under investigation by the District Attorney's office, which stepped in at the request of McMillin because of the heavy investigations workload. 

"I understand the media's desire to know the names of the officers involved, but I have significant concerns of the safety of the officers as their names are released prior to the investigations being completed," says City Councilwoman Kimbley Craig. "I hope our city remains at peace."

Callihan says because unprecedented violence this year had finally subsided, the city could no longer legally justify witholding the names under a California Supreme Court decision, Los Angeles Police Officers Association v. City of Long Beach, handed down 6-1 earlier this year. 

"It is a safety issue," McMillin told the Weekly after the Supreme Court decision. "The dissenting voice in that [Supreme Court] decision really goes to the heart of my concern. Ten years ago, it probably was not that big a deal. In the modern day, it's so easy to find out where someone lives, no matter how you try to maintain your confidentiality. This is the kind of business where you do make enemies."

The Salinas Police Officers Association provided a statement, declining to offer specific comment on the city's decision to release these names. "The Salinas Police Officers Association stands in support of our professional and dedicated membership and in support of being transparent in our actions," the statement said.