Public outrage: CHP officers cleared by Orange County DA in fatal shooting of unarmed Latino teen in Fullerton

Bullet holes on Villanueva's pickup truck

The Orange County DA's office reached an unbelievable conclusion last Friday that claimed a pair of undercover, plain-clothes CHP officers, involved in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Pedro Erick Villanova in a dark, residential cul-de-sac in Fullerton on July 3, were not criminally culpable for their actions.

In a letter written by Senior Deputy DA Brock Zimmon and Assistant District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh, which was suspiciously released over the weekend to avoid any press attention last week, the Orange County DA's office concluded that undercover CHP detectives involved in the shooting, Sergeant Jon Grover Cleveland of Santa Clarita and Officer Richard J. Henderson of Long Beach, were justified in using deadly force by shooting into an occupied and moving vehicle driven by an unarmed Latino teenager, Pedro Villanueva, on the eve of Independence Day last year.