Four California police officers claimed they saw a Black man holding a gun while sitting in the passenger seat of a car before they opened fire, wounding the man and killing his brother who was driving the car.
Two Martinez police officers even claimed they heard gunshots coming from the car before they opened fire in the 2023 incident, telling state investigators they were in fear for their lives.
But neither brother, Tahmon and Tommy Wilson, was armed. And now, three Martinez police officers have been fired for “misconduct,” according to Martinez Police Chief Andrew White.
However, the officers were not fired for shooting two unarmed men as they were fleeing in a car, striking Tahmon in the back of the head and Tommy in the back.
Instead, one cop who arrived at the scene after the shooting, Giani Arone, was fired for kneeing Tommy several times after he had been handcuffed while the Black man was moaning in pain. Arone also taunted Tommy by saying, “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes,” which the chief said was another reason he was fired.
Arone was also fired for his involvement in a conspiracy to hide an illegal knife possessed by another officer named Cole Bennett, who was also fired along with Alexander Tirona for their involvement in the knife cover-up.
“It is disappointing that misconduct occurred at the scene of this incident after the shooting and understandably adds a layer of complexity to the officer-involved shooting investigation,” said Chief White in a press release. “Once we learned of the misconduct, we took immediate action, conducting thorough investigations, and ultimately imposing termination as a disciplinary measure.”
The knife was being carried by Bennett, whose body camera was the only one out of all the officers to capture the actual shooting, but that portion of the video contains no audio, which makes it impossible to determine if Bennett did, in fact, hear gunshots from the brothers’ car.
The video posted below shows that Bennett did not turn on the camera until after the shooting but was able to capture the shooting without sound because body cameras are able to capture 30 seconds of soundless video from the moment before they turn on the camera.
The Shooting
The shooting took place on Aug. 18, 2023, after Martinez police responded to a burglary alarm that had been triggered at a marijuana dispensary.
When police arrived at the scene, the two brothers attempted to drive away from the cops, which was when the cops opened fire, according to attorney Adanté Pointer, who is representing the family. The video seems to confirm that.
“Officers shot into the car as the car was driving away from the police officers and was not posing a danger to anyone,” Pointer told ABC 7.
“One officer came to the scene and was abusing these gunshot victims, despite the fact they were handcuffed, despite the fact they were compliant, despite the fact they were in need of medical aid, treatment and care. And officers decided to exact what I call ‘street justice,’” Pointer added.
But in investigative interviews with agents from the California Department of Justice Police Shooting Investigation Team, police gave a different account that is not supported by the released footage.
“And now this passenger is shooting at us,” Bennett said. “So I discharged my service pistol at the passenger who I’d seen with the gun and who I now heard a gunshot come from the vehicle ’cause I believe he was shooting at me. I discharged my service pistol and engaged in this gunfight that I’m now in.”
Tirona also claimed he heard gunshots, but he may have just been referring to Bennett’s gunshots.
“I bring my pistol up, and I’m aiming at the driver’s side. And then, I hear gunshots,” he told investigators.
“The gunshots don’t sound like it’s coming from my partner who’s next to me. It doesn’t sound like it’s coming from where I believe my partners are down the driveway, and so I believe we’re getting shot at.”
“I immediately fire a quick volley of six rounds.”
Martinez police officers Marc Kahue and Raul Ceja-Mendez told the state investigators they saw a gun in Tommy’s hands before they opened fire.
“I just remember seeing a gun,” Kahue told investigators.
“My focus went from the car, gun and then back to the car because the car was driving at me,” he continued. “It was almost like a blur of me trying to process everything and then seeing the gun and then coming back to the car itself, and then I had to jump out of its way.”
Ceja-Mendez claimed he was so scared that he believed he “was not going to make it home that night.”
“When I looked at the front — in the windshield, and I seen the passenger with a black semi-automatic firearm,” he claimed.
“I thought the driver was trying crush myself and my FTO [field training officer, Kahue]. And the passenger was out to shoot me and my FTO as well,” Ceja-Mendez continued.
“I was so scared. The only thing I could think about was that I was not going to make it home that night.”
But no guns were found inside the brothers’ car. And no charges were ever filed against the surviving brother because, his attorney said, no crime had been committed.
The California DOJ investigation remains active. Chief White said that once it is complete, the police department will conduct another investigation into the excessive force allegations.
“There is no reasonable or lawful explanation for the lethal force employed by the four officers involved,” Pointer, who has yet to file a lawsuit, told KRON 4. “State law prohibits using deadly force against a fleeing vehicle that does not pose an immediate threat.”
Read the existing reports here, including the internal affairs report from the police department as well as the DOJ interviews with officers Bennett, Tirona, Ceja-Mendez and Kahue.
