OFFICIAL DEPARTMENTAL INCIDENT REPORT TO BOARD INQUIRY
Captain Henry Jules
Date: April 16^th
Incident: Officer involved shooting, kidnapping, fugitive capture

To the events of April 15^th 2007 I will try to summarize from reports given to me by my officers and others involved at the scene.

Detective Michael Hale and Patrolman Jake Holland arrived at Thompson’s Warehouse to interview Salvador Vega. Upon exiting the patrol car outside of the warehouse they immediately came under fire from an unidentified assailant (now identified as Vega) and requested backup. In the ensuing gun battle Holland was struck by a bullet that penetrated his vest. He is at Desert Samaritan in stable condition.

Hale pursued Vega into the building as patrol cars 165 and 121 arrived on scene. There Hale shot Vega twice in the chest – he is being held in the prisoner’s wing of Desert Samaritan and is in guarded condition. During an interview with detectives, Vega confessed to being the gunman involved in the shooting deaths of Molly and Linda Walters. Ballistics has tied the weapon used to injure Patrolman Holland directly to that shooting.

Missing child, Catalina Sanchez was recovered on scene as well as fugitive Emilio Sanchez. Hale’s report describes how he found Catalina hugging her father who had been stabbed twice in the chest with a serrated weapon also recovered at the scene. His wounds had been dressed with field pressure bandages formed from strips of leather and paramedics report that he would have died of blood loss if this had not been done.

Arrested at the scene also was Elizabeth Joan Boughtwood. Now believed to be connected to multiple murders over the past few days and the kidnapping of Catalina Sanchez. She was taken also to Desert Samaritan to be treated for a dislocated jaw, four broken ribs, ruptured spleen, and a shattered femur. Boughtwood is in critical condition and is not expected to live through the night. Unreliable witness reports from Catalina herself state that Boughtwood was attacked by a woman wearing black, wielding a crowbar. The unknown woman intervened while Boughtwood was stabbing Sanchez.

CSU has discovered no evidence of this woman at the crime scene. See the transcript of the brief interview with Catalina for the rest of her testimony on the subject. Catalina asserts that the woman knelt next to her and told her to wait by her father because the police would be there soon.

The DA is considering dropping murder charges against Emilio Sanchez to bring them against Santiago Vega in light of this new evidence.

There is still the strange case of Emilio Sanchez’s escape from custody on the day of these events. No explanation has come forthwith; however, a CSU examination of the scene of his escape has come up with DNA and trace evidence that Boughtwood was at the scene – absurd, but irrefutable. One theory involves the exchange officers not putting him onto the transport vehicle, and Boughtwood taking him from the area. Emilio had been sedated so would have been an easy subject to move. The missing weapons from the armory locker has proven to be a false alarm. They were not signed out by a rookie and returned at the end of the day.

Escape charges against Sanchez are still pending. It will be up to the DA if they will be pursued or not.

APPENDED RECOMMENDATION

Detective Michael Hale is an excellent officer and a good man, and while I cannot say enough good about him, he did break his suspension to continue to involve himself in this closed investigation. While punitive measures at this point are unavoidable, I would like to ask the disciplinary review board to be lenient in view of his excellent record and exemplary service.