Man fatally shot by Modesto police last year had threatened to kill officers, DA says
The man who pulled a gun from under a mattress at a Motel 6 and pointed it at Modesto police officers before they fatally shot him had threatened to kill them prior to the confrontation, according to the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office.
That and other new information about the Nov. 29 shooting was released in a letter issued last week, when the office of District Attorney Birgit Fladager said the officers were justified in their actions.
The officers were called to the Motel 6 at 1920 West Orangeburg Ave., by a bail agent who needed help arresting 54-year-old Raymond Lee. He was wanted on drug-related warrants totaling more than $75,000.
The bail agent told officers Lee was likely armed and that, based on a text conversation with a person who was with Lee, he was threatening to kill anyone who attempted to arrest him, according to the letter.
The letter did not give details about who was with Lee, but body camera video of the incident shows a woman coming out of the hotel room just before the shooting.
The bail agent told officers Lee was also threatening to kill the woman with him.
Before going to the room, officers first attempted to draw Lee out by having a hotel employee call the room and say someone had broken into his vehicle.
“The officers waited but no one left the room,” the letter says.
Concerned for the woman’s safety, officers went to the room.
Officers knocked on the door, identified themselves and ordered Lee to come out with his hands up. After about a minute with no answer, they used a card key on the door.
At that time, the woman opened the door, walked outside and told officers Lee was in the bathroom.
Standing outside the door, officers ordered Lee to come out.
Lee came around a wall near the bathroom area. Officers repeatedly yelled at him to show his hands as he walked to a bed, pulled up the mattress and retrieved a firearm from underneath.
“Lee then, very rapidly, pointed the gun directly at the officers in the doorway,” the letter says.
Officer Jeffrey Brandon, a three-year veteran of the department, and Officer Cameron Irinaga, a one-year veteran, fired their weapons.
Lee dropped the gun onto the bed and collapsed on the floor. The firearm was later determined to be a BB gun without the orange tip that signifies that kind of gun.
Following an autopsy, Lee was found to have amphetamine, a high level of methamphetamine, codeine, morphine and 6-Monoacetylmorphine (an intermediate metabolite between heroin and morphine) in his system.
“All of the legal elements of self-defense are present making this shooting justified,” reads the letter from the District Attorney’s Office.
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 11:27 AM.
