Officer Involved Shooting Review

Officer Involved Shooting Review
Oct 10, 2012
Source: Office of the District Attorney

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office has completed its review of the investigation by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office of the homicide of Lawrence Alan Kitchen that occurred on June 4, 2012, in Lompoc, California.

The District Attorney finds the shooting was a justifiable homicide under Penal Code Section 196(2).

SUMMARY On June 4, 2012, at approximately 8:50 a.m., Lompoc Police Officers responded to 208 South I Street, in Lompoc on a "shots fired" call. The investigation revealed the occurrence of the following events. Lawrence Kitchen became involved in a dispute with a neighbor's visitor over parking in the multi-unit residential property. Kitchen armed himself with a shotgun and handgun. He confronted Michelle Velasquez and shot her with the shotgun, injuring her and killing a small dog she was holding. Kitchen then pointed his weapon at Eusebio Ruiz who was attempting to seek refuge in apartment #1.

Kitchen shot Ruiz in the torso and leg. When confronted by officers and instructed to drop the weapon and get down, he pointed his weapon at Lompoc Police Officers Dan Sessions and Willie Francis. Both officers fired at Kitchen. They hit Kitchen twice.

Kitchen died at the scene. The District Attorney's role in reviewing this homicide is to determine whether the shooting of Lawrence Alan Kitchen was lawful and to provide a detailed explanation to the public about the facts and the law in that regard. As stated in Graham v. Connor (1989) 490 U.S. 386, this process "requires careful attention to the facts and circumstances." Hence, this analysis will give careful attention to both the facts and the circumstances of the fatal shooting of Lawrence Alan Kitchen.
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Lawrence Alan Kitchen, LOMPOC, CA, age 67, of Lompoc, CA, passed away suddenly on June 4, 2012. He was the son of Donna (Charles) Barber of Hickory Corners, MI, and Bruce (Marie) Kitchen of Kalamazoo, MI. He was born on December 2, 1944, in Vicksburg. He graduated from Delton Kellogg High School in 1963.

He proudly served in the U.S. Navy as an MSTS6 during Vietnam. He was honorably discharged on June 2, 1971.