PORT HUENEME : D.A. Clears Police in Fatal Shooting

A district attorney’s report released Thursday cleared police in Oxnard and Port Hueneme in the shooting death of Santos Anders Arias, calling his death a justifiable homicide that occurred in self-defense.

The report concludes that all seven officers confronting Arias, 23, of Camarillo outside a Port Hueneme gas station early Nov. 11 had reasonable cause to believe their lives were in danger because of his actions.

After initially complying with orders to lie down and relinquish his shotgun, Arias stood up, grabbed the shotgun, pumped it once and leveled it at officers, the report says.

Police responded with a fusillade of bullets, hitting Arias 21 times, five times in the head, an autopsy report says. Arias did not fire back, and police later discovered that his weapon was empty, the report said.

Blaine Owens, a friend of Arias, told officers at the scene that the gun was empty, but they had no reason to believe him, the report says. Arias had earlier used the same weapon to fire two shots through the back door of the Top Deck, a Port Hueneme bar.

Arias got into a fight earlier the same evening at the Top Deck and returned after it closed, arguing with the bar’s owner, the document says. He fired the shots through the closed door after the owner refused to open the bar, the report says.

An autopsy reports shows Arias was drunk, with a blood-alcohol level of 0.29. A person with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 in California is considered too intoxicated to drive.