Multi-agency team finishes investigation into shooting at Tumwater Safeway
A multi-agency team of local detectives has concluded its investigation into an incident July 22 when a Tumwater police officer shot four rounds into the vehicle of a man who had been driving erratically in a Safeway supermarket parking lot.
Shots fired that evening did not hit the driver, a 20-year-old California man named Jose L. Diaz, according to court documents.
Officers originally made contact with Diaz because he was reported to be “suicidal” and have a handgun and knife in his vehicle. However, according to a prosecutor’s statement of probable cause, Diaz later told detectives he bluffed about having the gun and thought it would help get officers to shoot him.
Diaz was ultimately accused of driving toward Officer Oran Thompson, who then fired his gun. Diaz has been charged with first-degree assault. A Thurston County Superior Court Judge set his bail at $100,000, and the county jail roster shows he was still in custody as of Monday.
Officer Thompson had been on paid administrative leave since the incident, according to Tumwater police spokesperson Laura Wohl, but returned to duty Sept. 24. The department finished its administrative review after it received the independent investigative report and found his actions were within department policy, Wohl told The Olympian. He’s been with the department 2 1/2 years, Wohl said.
What court documents say happened
About 5:40 p.m. July 22, Tumwater police responded to a call of a suicide threat at the Safeway on the 500 block of Cleveland Avenue Southeast, according to a prosecutor’s statement of probable cause for charges.
Diaz told dispatchers his family was threatened by a cartel and he feared for their safety and his own, according to the statement. He reportedly contacted the FBI because he didn’t trust police.
An FBI examiner relayed communications to dispatchers and said Diaz was suicidal and had a handgun and knife in his pickup, according to the statement. While he admitted to bluffing about the gun, the statement doesn’t include any information about a knife.
However, Lt. Lower told The Olympian at the time that witnesses and officers reported seeing him holding a knife throughout.
Diaz continued making what were characterized as “paranoid statements” relayed to dispatch, and the FBI noted he had mentioned “suicide by cop” twice, according to the statement.
When Tumwater police officers contacted Diaz, parked in the lot, he started driving erratically, making laps at estimated speeds of up to 30-40 miles per hour after police had blocked most entrances to the lot.
A spike strip deployed by a Thurston County Sheriff’s deputy disabled tires on his truck’s passenger side, according to the statement. Diaz kept circling the lot then turned and “drove at” an officer standing in the lot, now understood to be Officer Thompson. As he drove to where Thompson was standing, it reads, the officer fired four rounds into the vehicle.
Diaz stayed in his truck for about an hour, according to the statement, and requested officers kill him. The Thurston County SWAT team ultimately took him into custody, according to the statement and an investigative team press release. He had minor injuries but was not struck by bullets, according to the press release.
Diaz later told detectives he intentionally drove the truck at the officer so he’d be forced to shoot him, according to the statement. He wanted to die, according to the statement, because he thought it would help protect his family from the cartel.
He reported driving the vehicle from Gilroy, California, to Washington in one day and told detectives he had been trying to drive to Washington, D.C., to talk to the FBI but ended up in Washington state instead.
The investigating team
This is the first investigation conducted by the Capital Metro Independent Investigations Team, which is made up of detectives from Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater and Yelm police departments, under new guidelines set by Initiative 940, according to Olympia Police Lt. Paul Lower. However, the team had conducted multiple investigations into incidents involving officers over the years.
No personnel from Tumwater Police participated in the investigation, according to previous updates from Lower, who has served as spokesperson for the team.
The investigation is now with the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office, Lower said. Detectives didn’t offer up any charges, Lower said, but presented evidence so prosecutors can come to their own conclusions as to whether any crimes occurred.
A central website for the team has been launched, and Lower said it will grow with time, as the cities involved review inter-agency agreements and procedure manuals. They hope to add more documents relevant to the Tumwater case once the prosecutor is finished, he said.
For now, the site features press releases and two cell phone videos of the incident, as well as Lower’s contact information.
Suicide hotline
If you or someone you know is struggling, the Crisis Clinic of Thurston and Mason Counties operates a confidential, anonymous crisis intervention hotline 24 hours a day, every day of the year at 360-586-2800.
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