OROVILLE — A Butte County sheriff’s sergeant has been cleared for fatally shooting a gunman who allegedly opened fire toward law enforcement officers in a densely populated neighborhood in Oroville.
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said Wednesday his office would not pursue charges against Sgt. Mathew Rackley because an investigation found Rackley’s actions in the April 7 death of 33-year-old Larry Siordia were justified.
Rackley shot Siordia once in the upper chest area after Siordia exited his home in the 700 block of Pomona Avenue, raised a handgun and fired 16 rounds toward law enforcement officers from behind a wooden fence, Ramsey said.
Officers had staged outside Siordia’s home after receiving reports of gunshots heard from inside the home and learning that Siordia may have been holding his wife and young children hostage inside.
One of Siordia’s rounds struck a Butte County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicle that officers had used as cover.
Siordia later died at Oroville Hospital.
No one else was hurt.
“For the safety of the community, for the officers, for the hostages,” Ramsey said, “Sgt. Rackley reasonably and justifiably ended the situation.”
Ramsey on Wednesday presented the findings of an investigation conducted by the Butte County Officer Involved Shooting/Critical Incident Protocol Team, including body camera footage of the episode, digital reconstructions of Rackley’s movements and photographs of the shooting scene.
The presentation and investigation report can be viewed at the Butte County District Attorney’s Office’s website.
Among new revelations about the incident released Wednesday was the fact that Siordia had filed for bankruptcy about a week before he was killed— on March 30— largely because of medical bills totaling over $350,000.
An examination of Siordia’s blood taken at his autopsy also revealed he had a “very high level” of cocaine in his system.
Investigators further found two assault rifles inside Siordia’s home and numerous gunshot holes throughout in the residence, presumably fired by Siordia and prompting multiple calls to the Oroville Police Department in the early morning hours of April 7.
Investigators concluded, according to Ramsey’s investigation report, that Siordia suffered “some sort of breakdown” while highly intoxicated on cocaine and turned violent with his wife and children— ages 1 and 4— present in their home.
Investigators found Siordia’s wife had sent a text message to her sister during the episode asking her to “come get the kids as soon as possible.” The sister later told dispatchers she had reached Siordia’s wife by phone and Siordia’s wife said something to the effect of, “They have a gun to my head.”
Siordia’s wife has declined to speak to investigators.
According to the investigation report, the Oroville Police Department was called at least four times in the early morning hours of April 7 regarding disturbances at Siordia’s home, which is a duplex.
Siordia’s neighbors in the duplex first called dispatchers about 3 a.m. April 7 to report hearing multiple gunshots inside Siordia’s unit, according to the report. Oroville police officers responded but were met with a locked gate that blocked access to the front door.
Officers reportedly shook the gate, flashed flashlights into a window next to the front door and verbally announced their presence but received no response from inside the darkened home.
At 3:30 a.m. an Oroville police sergeant was told by dispatchers that the duplex’s landlord had called to report that Siordia’s neighbors heard more gunshots coming from inside the home and also a smoke alarm sounding. The landlord insisted that police force entry into the home, but the sergeant said he did not feel he had sufficient probable cause to enter the home.
Officers again tried to receive a response from inside Siordia’s home but could not.
The officers, however, spoke with Siordia’s neighbors while on the scene, and the neighbors were upset that the officers were not forcing their way inside the home. The neighbors also indicated they feared for their safety.
At 4:20 a.m., the neighbors again called police to report hearing even more gunshots coming from inside Siordia’s home. The police sergeant drove by the home, shined his patrol car’s spotlight on the front and rear of the home, and then drove off after finding “nothing out of the ordinary,” according to the investigation report.
At 5:40 a.m. Siordia’s wife’s sister called police to report she was standing outside the home and reported her sister may have been being held at gunpoint inside.
Officers again responded to the scene, and they were alerted by the sister to a glass window near the home’s front door that was apparently shot out. The officers said the bullet hole in the window wasn’t there on their previous visits.
Police subsequently requested support from the Sheriff’s Office to handle a possible hostage situation.
Ramsey said Wednesday that the officers would have had sufficient probable cause to force entry into Siordia’s home based on the reports of gunshots coming from inside, but the officers at the time felt that they did not have sufficient cause.
“It was on the edge of a discretionary call by the police as to whether or not to go in or not go in,” the district attorney said.
