Sheriff: Man shot by officers refused to drop handgun
A man who was shot by police during an encounter outside a house in Homedale Saturday afternoon is in critical condition at a local hospital, Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue said Monday.
The victim was identified as Gilbert Heredia, who is in his mid-30s. The shooting occurred at about 3 p.m. Saturday in the 300 Block of Montana Avenue in Homedale, which is about 40 miles west of Boise.
The two officers involved in the incident, who were not injured, were from the Homedale Police Department and the Owyhee County Sheriff’s Office. The Canyon County Sheriff’s Office is the lead agency for the Critical Incident Task Force investigating the shooting.
At a press conference Monday morning, Donahue said the officers were there to help transfer custody of four children from Heredia to their mother. The children’s mother was not at the scene, and no one else was outside at the time of the shooting, he said.
When officers are present as part of a “civil standby,” they’re there to make sure things go smoothly and safely during the child custody exchange, the sheriff said.
“We’re just there to keep the peace,” Donahue said.
Heredia is accused of pulling a handgun on the officers during a conversation with them and then ignoring their commands to put it down. Donahue said investigators believe all three men fired their weapons, but they’re unsure of the sequence.
The officers fired multiple times at relatively close range, Donahue said. They were under a carport outside the house.
The officers were called to the residence for a welfare check earlier Saturday. They had been called to the residence on several occasions during the two days before the shooting, but the nature of those calls wasn’t disclosed.
One of the officers was wearing a body camera, but Donahue declined to say which one. The officers, both now on paid administrative leave, have not been publicly identified. They were experienced officers, Donahue said, and one is a Level I reserve deputy.
A search warrant was served at the house, and additional firearms belonging to Heredia were found inside. Heredia has not yet been charged with anything related to the shooting while he recovers in the hospital.
He has several past criminal convictions in Idaho, including a 2009 charge of injury to a child that he pleaded down to disturbing the peace, online court records show. His court record also includes guilty pleas to vehicular manslaughter for an incident in 2003 and possession of a controlled substance in 1997.
Katy Moeller: 208-377-6413, @KatyMoeller
This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Sheriff: Man shot by officers refused to drop handgun."