Published:Thursday, May 15, 2008 10:41 AM PDT
Serving the South Coast of Oregon

Bend police detective justified in shooting
Thursday, May 15, 2008 10:41 AM PDT

BEND (AP) — Deschutes County District Attorney Mike Dugan announced Wednesday that a Bend police detective was justified in killing a 28-year-old passenger in a vehicle that pulled up to a house during a drug raid.

Detective Tom Brown fired 11 shots at Refugio Cruz-Fuentes after the man allegedly refused to raise his hands as directed in both Spanish and English.

Dugan spent the last two weeks reviewing evidence from the May 2 shooting. He said Brown had reason to believe he and another drug agent were in danger when Cruz-Fuentes reached toward an inside pocket.

Investigators said a man they arrested at the house told them his meth supplier was on his way to make a delivery, and he typically carried a gun.

Brown told investigators he “felt his body go cold” after firing a gun in the line of duty for the first time in his 14-year career.


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