UPDATE: Answers sought after officer-involved shooting.

Salinas police followed 16-year-old Marlon Joel Rodas-Sanchez into his house around 2:30am on Jan. 18. While it’s still uncertain of what took place inside, Rodas-Sanchez died from his wounds after two police officers, Manual Lopez, Jr. and Jared Dominici, fired multiple shots from an AR-15 and a .45 caliber pistol on him at close range.

The names of the officers were released by Salinas Police Chief Adele Fresé on Jan. 24. Both officers are on paid leave while the shooting is under investigation.

The shooting came after police were unable to subdue Rodas-Sanchez after a more than hour-long standoff in the backyard and in front of his house on the 600 block of Terrace Street. Salinas police fired a taser, water hose and rubber bullets on the teenager.

He appeared to be suffering from a drug-induced psychological crisis and was wielding an 8- to 10-inch kitchen knife. Spencer Critchley, spokesperson for the city of Salinas, says all officers who responded to the call had at least some crisis intervention training.

Standing in an open kitchen and dining room in the small house Rodas-Sanchez shared with at least five other people, Carlos Bonilla Chicas, a housemate and family friend, recounts the deadly incident Spanish. He was unaware of who initially called the police, but he says when the authorities arrived he and the other housemates stood back, allowing the police to handle the situation.

“I trusted the police, I thought they would be able to calm him down,” Bonilla Chicas says, holding back emotion. “Then they shot him.”

Rodas-Sanchez had lived in the house on Terrace Street, just south of Cesar Chavez Park, for a few months, Bonilla Chicas says. He would split time between staying with his mother in San Jose and being close to his father who lives in Salinas. Managing Deputy District Attorney Ed Hazel says it’s still unclear if the young man was attending school or even enrolled in a local high school.

“Just looking at his overall background, it’s a really sad situation,” Hazel says. “In our investigations we try to get an overall history to understand everything that led up to the event.”

Standing in the kitchen where Rodas-Sanchez lost his life, Bonilla Chicas looks at a small shrine with two burning candles, flowers and a small cross made from a wooden dowel at his feet. The large window on the side of the room has a half-dozen visible bullet holes from shots fired by Salinas police.

Bonilla Chicas and another housemate rub tears from their eyes. He says Rodas-Sanchez was on drugs that night and that they had found a pipe in the bathroom. While he is unsure of the teen's past drug use, Bonilla Chicas says he had never seen Rodas-Sanchez act aggressively toward anyone before.

While Rodas-Sanchez was acting erratically and carrying a knife, Bonilla Chicas says he didn’t feel any personal threat, and that he was more concerned for the safety of the teen.

When asked if he thought there was any justification for the shooting and Bonilla Chicas, who works in the fields outside of Salinas, says, “I don’t think so.”

Bonilla Chicas says he wants to see the the body camera footage from the time of the shooting. He’s not sure if Rodas-Sanchez was carrying the knife when he entered the house, and he’s not sure of what kind of threat the 16-year-old posed to the officers when he was shot. But, he thinks the video will give him some resolution after the tragic night.

Hazel says the body cam footage will not be released while the officer involved shooting is under investigation. (The Weekly has filed a Public Records Act request seeking the footage.)

Editor's note: The original story, published Jan. 23, has been updated to include the names of the officers involved in the shooting of Marlon Joel Rodas-Sanchez on Jan. 18.