A former Whittier police officer was sentenced to a year of probation and was ordered to give up his right to serve as a police officer in California after he pleaded no contest to two counts of misdemeanor assault by a peace officer for shooting an unarmed fleeing suspect in the back in 2020, court records show.

Salvador Murillo, who at the time was a detective with the Whittier Police Department, took a plea deal with prosecutors as attorneys were determining whether to have him stand trial again on two counts each of felony assault by a public officer and assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

A judge declared a mistrial in November after jurors deadlocked on the four charges. They slightly favored guilt on all four, with the vote 7-5 on two of the charges and 8-4 on the two others.

In addition to surrendering his Peace Officer Standards and Training certificate, Murillo was ordered to complete 200 hours of community service, court records show. He agreed to the deal on Feb. 23.

Murillo and his partner, Cynthia Lopez, were in plain clothes and in an unmarked police car on April 30, 2020, when they spotted a car wanted in connection with a theft investigation and called for backup, according to evidence presented at the trial. A brief pursuit ended in an alley south of Walnut Avenue between Comstock and Greenleaf avenues.

The man in the car, Nicholas Carrillo, was not wanted in connection with the theft, as police had suspected his then-girlfriend had committed the crime and had injured a security guard while fleeing.

After he was boxed in by a marked unit in front and the unmarked unit behind him, Carrillo backed into the unmarked unit before getting out of the car and running, according to testimony. During that time, Lopez fired three shots, but Murillo testified that he believed Carrillo was shooting.

As Carrillo ran, Murillo gave chase. Carrillo rounded a corner and hopped a fence, extending his left arm as he turned, prosecutors said. Murillo fired two shots as Carrillo attempted to jump a gate, prosecutors said. Carrillo continued, but fell to the ground about 15 to 17 feet beyond the fence. Murillo fired two more shots after he claimed Carrillo appeared to try to turn toward him, according to his testimony.

Two of the four shots hit Carrillo in the back, with the second hitting his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down, prosecutors said.

Carrillo died last year from a drug overdose, medical examiner’s records show.

At issue during trial was whether Murillo was in imminent danger when he fired the shots at Carrillo. Prosecutors argued Carrillo was not armed, while his attorney, Vicki Podberesky, argued the shooting was lawful and that prosecutors hadn’t proven that Murillo didn’t fire in self-defense.

Deputy District Attorney Jason Quirino, during closing arguments of trial last year questioned why, if Murillo truly believed that Carrillo had fired the three shots, he wouldn’t have responded by shooting right then and there. He also questioned why Carrillo was hit square in the back if he was turning toward Murillo.

Murillo was a 15-year veteran of the Whittier Police Department at the time of the shooting. He and Lopez were both charged three years after the shooting by former District Attorney George Gascon, but the charges against Lopez were dropped after a judge found there was insufficient evidence against her. Lopez is also no longer with the department.

In a separate civil lawsuit, the city of Whittier agreed to pay Carrillo $1 million in August 2020.