Police Chief Confirms Names of Officers in Fatal Shooting

[Updated March 30, 2012 | 5:36 p.m.] Editor’s note — This contains a corrected statement by Chief Sanchez issued late Friday afternoon.

Pasadena Chief of Phillip L. Sanchez confirmed the names of the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of Kendrec McDade on March 24 as veteran officers Jeffery Newlen and Mathew Griffin.

Officers Griffin and Newlen are off on paid leave at this time.

Newlen is white and was hired in April, 2007. He has not been involved in any previous Officer Involved Shootings.

Griffin is also white, and was hired in August, 2006. In 2007, he was involved in a shooting of a Rottweiller that was on the loose.

Griffin and Newlen shot McDade, a 19 year old college student from Azusa, as they responded to a 911 armed robbery radio call and pursued McDade up Sunset Ave. north of Orange Grove Blvd.

The officers reported they thought McDade was reaching for a weapon inside his pants waistband. No weapon was found at the scene of the shooting.

It was later determined by police that the 911 caller had lied and that neither McDade or another suspect involved in the alleged robbery was armed.

The 911 caller, Oscar Carrillo, was subsequently arrested for his role in a chain of events which resulted in McDade’s death. Carrillo was arrested for manslaughter.

In a press release today, Chief Phillip Sanchez said, “I am committed to thoroughly investigating the Officer Involved Shooting. In addition to the investigation being conducted by the Pasadena Police Detectives’ Professional Standards Investigation Section and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Officer Involved Shooting Team, the Office of Independent Review Group will also conduct an independent investigation.”

Attorney Caree Harper, who represents the McDade family, had released the names of the officers during a press conference Wednesday afternoon at NAACP Pasadena headquarters.  Pasadena Now elected not to publish those names prior to confirmation from the Police Dept.