Stanislaus Sheriff’s Office releases video of fatal deputy-involved shooting in Waterford
Body-camera video of a deputy-involved shooting earlier this month that killed a Waterford man was released Thursday afternoon by the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office.
The shooting occurred in the predawn hours of Dec. 13. At 3:23 that Tuesday morning, deputies responded to 13003 Bentley St. after a resident called to say his roommate had fired a gun inside the house. The alleged gunman, Bradly Locklin, was shot 53 minutes after authorities arrived at the scene.
The video, released Thursday afternoon, is a 10-minute, 43-second compilation of body-camera footage, dispatch audio, drone footage from the Ceres Police Department, written descriptions and maps showing deputies’ positions during the incident. Sheriff Jeff Dirkse is the on-screen narrator.
The Bee recently reported the gunman was Locklin, age 27. He was shot by Deputy Gerardo Zazueta outside the home as he turned to go back inside. At the time Locklin fired his pistol in the home, there were believed to be five other people inside. When Locklin emerges from the house, deputies are not sure whether he’s the suspect or a victim. They soon see that he’s armed. He fires his weapon, but deputies are heard saying that he fired into the air, not at anyone.
The video shows Zazueta’s body camera footage before, during and after he fired at Locklin. Watching Locklin after he’s come out of the house, Zazueta says, “We just don’t want him to go towards the car or shoot the car.” He’s referring to a driver having pulled up to the home.
Sgt. Luke Schwartz responds to Zazueta, saying, “Take care of what you’ve gotta do, dude.” The video shows “Deputy 5” telling Zazueta they can’t let Locklin go back into the house.
Schwartz asks, “Should we give him some commands?” But no commands to Locklin can be heard. Later in the video, Dirkse confirms that though an initial news release from his department said a public-address system had been used to talk to Locklin, that was inaccurate.
Public address systems are a tool law enforcement officers use when it is appropriate and safe to do so, Layton wrote in a message to The Bee on Thursday evening. In this case, with deputies attempting to discreetly get people out of the home, the use of a PA could’ve created a potential hostage situation.
“Utilizing a PA tends to draw people form their homes because they are curious as to what is occurring. That could then increase the danger to the surrounding community,” Layton wrote.
As deputies in the video confirm Locklin is returning to the home, Schwartz tells Zazueta, “Do it.” Zazueta fires a single round. The angle of the body camera shows the end of Zazueta’s gun and what looks like a police car door.
Deputies and then medical personnel who had staged nearby made lifesaving efforts, but Locklin died at the scene.
Deputies were aware that two people got to the backyard by climbing through a window. A locked gate kept a pregnant woman from getting out of the yard. After Locklin was shot, it was determined one person still was in the house. None of the victims was injured.
The video shows that the caller hid in an unlocked, unbarricaded room with her boyfriend. She tells the deputy on the phone that they are afraid to barricade the door, move, or go through the window. The deputy asks if the people inside had any reason to believe Locklin wanted to hurt them. The caller replies that Locklin is drunk.
At the beginning of the video, a dispatcher tells deputies that the reporting party doesn’t know why Locklin fired the gun or if it had been used to harm himself.
Deputies were working with dispatchers to get people out of the home, Dirkse says in the video. He goes on to explain how responding deputies positioned themselves in the surrounding neighborhood as they arrived at the scene: one deputy was in front of the house and another was located at the east end of Bentley Street. The remaining deputies were at the intersection of Bentley and Tim Bell Road. A “Quick Reaction Force” was then set up in a driveway west of the home.
Per Sheriff’s Office policy, Zazueta has been placed on paid administrative leave. He has worked with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department since 2017, Sgt. Erich Layton said.
The incident remains under investigation by the Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit, the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office and the Internal Affairs Unit.
This story was originally published December 22, 2022 at 5:26 PM.
