Investigation clears SWAT officers in suicidal Roy man's death in 2014

Standard-Examiner (Ogden, UT) - 7/13/2016

July 13--ROY -- SWAT officers found an empty Seagram's 7 gallon whiskey bottle on the kitchen counter of Jose Calzada'sRoy home, but there was no sign of the suicidal Army veteran, who was heading into his seventh hour of holding police at bay during a standoff.

After a careful search of the suburban house, officers returned to the garage, which they had combed earlier during their half hour-long incursion.

An officer reached into the front of a 1993 Honda Accord and popped the trunk. Calzada was inside the trunk, lying on his back, pointing a Ruger 9mm pistol into his mouth with an AR-15 assault rifle propped near his head.

What followed was a brief, tense interaction capped by an 11-round burst of shots from three SWAT officers. Calzada, 35, died at 11:15 a.m.Oct. 21, 2014.

The violent conclusion and the harrowing hours before are chronicled in 219 pages of investigative reports and associated documents from the Roy Police Department, Ogden-Metro SWAT Team and Weber County Attorney's Office. The records originally were requested in 2014 and finally released in June.

The documents reveal the despondent and fatalistic actions of a man believed to be depressed by relationship and financial problems. They also outline the tactical activities of police trying to end the standoff and detail the county attorney's officer-involved shooting investigation.

Weber County Attorney Chris Allred said in an interview that unlike most other officer-involved shooting reviews, the Calzada investigation was not accompanied by a letter of conclusion from the county attorney's office. He said the letter "got lost in the shuffle" because the shooting happened near the end of the previous county attorney's administration and the state medical examiner's report was not received until well into Allred's term.

"We had looked at (the shooting) and did not find any criminal wrongdoing," Allred said. "The agencies involved had cleared their officers as well and they were already back to work, and nobody was too concerned on our end."

WIDE-EYED STARE

At 4:04 a.m.Oct. 21, 2014, Roy police were dispatched to 3779 W. 5300 South after a crisis hotline called police dispatch to report a man who said he had a gun and wanted to commit "suicide by cop."

Patched into a three-way call with police dispatch and the crisis line, Calzada said "he wanted to see how the officers can handle themselves," and he was ready for the "flash and suppression" tactics police use when entering a dangerous environment.

After SWAT negotiator Jason Vanderwarf, a Roy police detective, joined the call, Calzada claimed to have hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

At about 4:15 a.m., Calzeda's girlfriend found him in the back yard, still on the phone with the suicide hotline. She later told police she went back inside and tried to hide whichever guns she knew Calzeda kept. She also told them about the empty bottle of Seagram's and her suspicion that he drank most of it over the previous day or so.

In her written statement after the shooting, she said, "I couldn't find his smaller handguns. I was pretty sure he had pawned them for bills a couple weeks prior."

Calzeda soon came inside and the girlfriend left the home with her two young children and Calzada's niece. She later told police she was planning to leave him for good.

"She poured out his alcohol and he locked her out of the bedroom," according to a report taken by Roy Officer Val Truscott.

Over the next four hours, Vanderwarf and a psychologist who had treated Calzada for depression tried to talk the man into putting down his weapons and leaving the home.

Reports say Calzada was apparently drinking heavily, taking sleep aids and two anti-depressant medications, so the psychologist suggested police urge Calzada to take his next dose of medications, "so it would make him unconscious."

Police declined to take that advice and by 8:59 a.m., Calzada had quit communicating with the SWAT negotiator.

"It appeared likely that Jose had succumbed to a combination of alcohol and medications and may be running the very real risk of an overdose as well," the SWAT commander, Lt. Jeff Pledger of the Weber County Sheriff's Office, wrote in his report.

Pledger ordered the assembly of an 11-member SWAT team, led by Roy Police Detective Armando Perez. Pledger said the hope was to slowly and methodically search the home and find a passed-out Calzada to quickly end the situation.

Then SWAT officer Brandon Miles, a Weber County sheriff's deputy, opened the trunk and met Calzada's eyes.

"Jose had a wide-eyed stare, and I felt that Jose had already made his decision and wanted to end his life," Miles wrote in his report. "I looked at Jose in the eyes multiple times and he seemed empty and lifeless. He would occasionally look at me but never talk to me. I feared that Jose was still trying to use his pistol against us."

Miles reported he did not see the assault rifle. But Perez and John Beck, another Ogden officer on the SWAT Team, said it looked like the AR-15 was pointed at Miles.

* * * * *

In the confrontation in the garage, multiple officers reported that they shouted at Calzada, "Drop the weapon" and "Show me your hands."

Perez, the entry team commander, warned Miles the assault rifle was pointed at him.

Perez then fired the first shot.

"I was in fear that Jose was trying to fire the rifle from the position it was in by just pulling the trigger with his left hand," Perez said, according to the transcript of his interview with Weber County attorney's investigator Rob Carpenter.

"I felt deadly force was necessary to prevent the death or serious bodily injury to myself and the SWAT members around me," Perez said. "I aimed in on Jose's head and fired one round."

Beck was the next to fire, according to the investigation. He fired eight rounds.

All the SWAT officers were using assault rifles.

"Armando told me (Calzada) was trying to manipulate the trigger (of the AR-15)," Beck said in his interview with Carpenter.

"The (Ruger handgun) came and pointed directly at me and at that point I fired," Beck said. "I thought he was going to start shooting at me or the other officers. He was looking directly at me and I truly thought he was going to shoot me.

"My first few shots, the gun stayed in his hand," Beck continued. "He flinched up as if he had been struck with a bullet, but it still pointed at me and it looked more like he was coming back to fire."

Then Calzada grabbed the handgun with both hands, Beck said.

"I continued to fire my weapon at him because my initial shots didn't cause him to drop the weapon."

Beck said he was about 15 feet away from Calzada.

Ogden officer Reid Mackley was standing next to Beck.

"It scared the hell out of me, to tell you the truth," Mackley told Carpenter. "I truly believed that he was going to fire on us and that we would be killed or seriously injured if we didn't take the action that we did."

Mackley said he remembered firing two shots at Calzada.

The county attorney's office and the state medical examiner both declined to release a copy of Calzeda's autopsy report. They referred the request to the Roy Police Department, which did not respond to follow-up requests for the report.

A Weber County Sheriff's Office evidence and property report showed the medical examiner sent 14 bullets or bullet fragments back to the county after the autopsy. The report said the bullets were recovered from Calzada's head, neck, back, chest, thigh and lower leg.

* * * * *

"Mr. Calzada refused to disarm and was shot by SWAT members and killed as he was bringing the handgun into position to shoot the officers," Carpenter concluded in his investigative report.

Calzada's Ruger and AR-15 were not loaded, officers found. They later found a full magazine for the assault rifle inside the home.

Calzada's estate was adjudicated in 2nd District Court in April. His widow, Maria Calzada of West Haven, and his mother, Manuela Rosales of Roy, were named as executors.

The Calzadas had been married for six years, with no children, but had been separated for about a year and a half, police reports said.

None of his immediate family could be reached for comment.

The officers who fired their guns at Calzeda were placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol, but the reports do not make clear when they returned to work.

You can reach reporter Mark Shenefelt at mshenefelt@standard.net or 801 625-4224. Follow him on Twitter at @mshenefelt and like him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SEmarkshenefelt.

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NEED HELP?

Those thinking of harming themselves have several resources available:

Davis Behavioral Health 24-Hour Crisis Response Line, 801-773-7060

National Suicide Prevention Hotline, 1-800-273-8255

National Alliance on Mental Illness Utah, 801-323-9900

Family Counseling Service of Northern Utah, 801-399-1600

Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital Behavioral Health, 801-387-5600

Davis Hospital: Behavioral Health Unit and Emergency Room, 801-807-1000

Lakeview Hospital: Behavioral Health Unit and Emergency Room, 801-299-2200

Live Hannah's Hope: Empowering Youth.

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