A 911 call reporting "unknown trouble" at a South Side apartment complex led to a deadly confrontation between a police officer and an armed man known for making threats with guns.
The altercation inside a third-floor apartment left DeAngelo Cazares Rivera, 25, dead, shot by Tucson police Officer Jeffrey Stover. It's the second time in five months the officer has been involved in a fatal shooting.
Police officials said Stover, an 11-year veteran who was working alone, had to use deadly force Wednesday night after Rivera pulled a handgun from his waistband as the two struggled.
The man's girlfriend, who police said witnessed the shooting, said Rivera never pulled a gun on officer.
Stover, who was cleared by prosecutors in the previous shooting, was fired from the force 10 years ago after being indicted on felony aggravated assault charges, but later got his job back.
Wednesday's incident began before 8 p.m. with Rivera and his girlfriend arguing about their relationship, said Sgt. Mark Robinson, a Tucson police spokesman.
Serina Hernandez, 21, was driving her parents' car when Rivera pulled out a handgun and fired two rounds through the windshield, he said.
They drove back to her apartment in the 6200 block of South Campbell Avenue, and Hernandez asked her roommate and her mother to call 911, Robinson said. In an interview with the Star, she later denied asking anyone to call the police.
Hernandez said they were not arguing when he shot the windshield and could only defend Rivera's actions by saying that he was on pills.
The couple continued to argue once they arrived at the apartment, debating who should pay for the damaged windshield, Robinson said.
Within 10 minutes, Rivera would be dead.
One officer dispatched
Stover, 35, responded to the "unknown trouble" call at the apartment, Robinson said.
It is Tucson police policy to dispatch two officers to all domestic violence calls, he said, but the dispatcher didn't know the situation was domestic-violence related, and other officers were busy.
When Stover arrived, the people who had called police told him of the couple's dispute and said they were worried Hernandez was in danger of being assaulted by Rivera, Stover later told investigators.
Stover called for back-up and ran the license plate on the car with the broken windshield, Robinson said.
"It is apparent that Officer Stover … moved to the apartment to ensure that the woman had not already been harmed or to make sure she would not be harmed," Robinson said.
In the apartment, Stover found Hernandez uninjured. But Rivera was "obviously agitated and verbally abusive," Robinson said.
Stover tried to calm him down, but Rivera walked toward him in an aggressive and combative way, Robinson said. However, Hernandez said Rivera was not aggressive toward Stover.
Stover pushed Rivera back, Rivera went at him again, and Stover used a more forceful push, Robinson said.
When Rivera went at him a third time, Stover kicked him in the leg and he fell, Robinson said.
Rivera got up and backed down a hallway, facing the officer, who pulled him to the ground, Robinson said.
Rivera's shirt tore open, revealing a silver handgun in his waistband, he said.
Drawing his gun, Stover commanded Rivera to stay on the ground, Robinson said, but Rivera got up and pulled out the gun.
As he swung the gun toward the officer, Stover "reacted to a deadly threat" and fired several times, killing Rivera in front of Hernandez, he said.
Hernandez said Rivera "was falling into the wall, had his hands on his head and he was telling the officer 'leave me alone, leave me alone.' "
Hernandez said Stover shot Rivera seven times — once as he was getting up, once as he was going down after being shot, and then five more times as he lay on the ground. She said Rivera had two guns tucked into his waistband and that he never pulled them.
"I told the officer, 'you didn't have to kill him,' " Hernandez said. "(Rivera) was just laying there, and I was telling him 'stick with me, don't leave me,' but then another officer came and (Stover) told him 'take her out of here.' "
When she left Rivera, he was already dead, Hernandez said, and both guns were still tucked into his waistband.
Investigators found the silver, semi-automatic Colt .45 Rivera had pointed at the officer about 2 feet away from his body, Robinson said. They also found the second gun in Rivera's waistband, a semi-automatic Ruger 9mm, Robinson said.
Each handgun was loaded and each had a round in the chamber, he said.
Tucson police maintain that Hernandez's account of what happened is not consistent with what Stover told investigators, what witnesses heard or with the physical evidence found at the scene.
Sought in Jan. incident
Police were seeking Rivera on three felony charges stemming from a January incident in which he shot a few rounds from a handgun inside his parents' home, police reports show.
A relative who called about the shots said Rivera was suicidal, according to the reports. His mother told police he was drunk and was upset over an argument with his girlfriend. She talked him into putting down the gun, said the reports.
Police seized two guns in that case. Rivera was wanted for suspicion of discharging a firearm in city limits, possession of a stolen handgun and prohibited possession of a firearm.
A court prohibited Rivera, who has an extensive criminal record, from possessing a gun after a 2005 case in which Rivera pointed a handgun at several people, including a child, in the lobby of a hotel on South Tucson Boulevard while another man tried to calm him down, police reports show.
He was agitated and angry and told officers he had been shot, but it was a hallucination, according to witness accounts.
Rivera was arrested on suspicion of endangerment and disorderly conduct.
Several disciplinary actions
Stover was one of two officers who fatally shot Miguel Angel Kovrigin September after he threatened to shoot family members at their home, near South 12th Avenue and West Los Reales Road.
The other was Officer Jim Johnston, a seven-year veteran.
The officers told investigators Kovrig ignored their commands to drop his firearm. The Pima County Attorney's Office cleared the officers, but a police board of inquiry still is reviewing the case, Robinson said.
Stover has been disciplined several times and was fired in 1996 after a grand jury indicted him on felony aggravated assault charges in a case in which Stover kicked and punched a restrained man during an arrest on the South Side after a high-speed chase.
Stover pleaded not guilty to the aggravated assault charge, and the criminal case was dismissed. He went through an appeals process and won back his job.
He is on paid administrative leave, a regular police practice after a shooting. A board of inquiry will review the shooting.
One patrol officer involved in two fatal shootings is rare for the department. "Most officers can go through a career, thankfully, without being involved in a shooting," Robinson said. "An officer that is involved in more than one shooting is not necessarily making bad decisions."
"This is a case that could very easily have been an officer's funeral rather than an incident reviewed by our shooting review board."
