CCPD release video of deadly officer-involved shooting
The Cathedral City Police Department has released body worn and in-car camera footage of a deadly officer-involved shooting that occurred in January.
On the afternoon of Jan. 13, 2019, CCPD received reports of a disturbance between a male and female near Date Palm Drive and McCallum Way. An officer who arrived on scene said they saw Roberto Tapia, 28, of La Quinta shoot Paola Minero, 23, of Cathedral City. The officer reported this happened right in front of them.
Authorities said Tapia then started firing at police, striking an officer’s vehicle. The officer returned fire, striking Tapia. Body cam footage reveals Tapia appeared to continue attempting to shoot at police.
“You’ll see the suspect is shot in a variety of areas on his body. You can see that in the video and the suspect doesn’t give up he continues to point the weapon at the officer,” said CCPD Chief Travis Walker.
Walker said it was later determined the gun used by the suspect had malfunctioned sometime between shooting the woman and attempting to fire at police.
“I believe that’s the only thing that really saved our officers life, was the fact that this gun had a malfunction,” Walker said.
Police then attempted to provide medical aid to both Minero and Tapia. Minero was pronounced dead at the scene while Tapia was pronounced dead in the hospital. The CCPD officer involved suffered minor injuries.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department continues to investigate the incident. A cause or motive has not been released. Minero’s mother told News Channel 3 that Tapia is the father of Minero’s three children. She said the two had been in a relationship but were separated at the time of the shooting.
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According to CCPD, Tapia had a conviction history dating back to 2009. Some of those convictions included, “Obstruct/Resist an executive officer” in 2012 and Domestic battery twice in 2016. He had two criminal restraining orders on file still active at the time of the shooting.
