The city of Chula Vista and its police department are facing a wrongful death suit over the killing of a retired Navy corpsman.
Three police officers, responding to a disturbance call, shot Carlos Enriquez 16 times with assault-style rifles at his home last April. The lawsuit alleges the officers used excessive and unnecessary force.
Enriquez dodged bullets to save fellow sailors in the Iraq war but did not survive the emotional scars he carried home from it.
“He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as many veterans do,” attorney Eugene Iredale said.
Iredale is representing the family in a lawsuit, which alleges Chula Vista police failed to summon, or refused to wait for, the police department’s Crisis Negotiation Team or any other mental health professionals. It also alleges police knew Enriquez suffered from PTSD, at the time was experiencing a mental health crisis and was also intoxicated.
“He needed somebody who knew how to talk to him, knew how to defuse the situation and who knew how to use time and distance to be able to avoid the unnecessary use of deadly force,“ Iredale said.
Chula Vista police released an edited version of body worn camera and drone video from that fateful April 19, 2025.
Enriquez’s wife Maria called 911, fearing her husband might kill himself or others — a call she now regrets.
“We had no idea this was going to happen to him. If we knew, we would never have called 911,” she said.
The Barrio Logan VFW Post is urging Chula Vista Police to release the video of a veteran being shot and killed. NBC 7’s Dave Summers reports.
Police say Enriquez had two guns, one in a pocket and the other in his waist band. He sat on the driveway. After about a half-hour, an officer fired a less-lethal bean bag round from a shotgun, spinning Enriquez around. The video indicates he then reached for a handgun by his leg.
The death certificate indicates he died of multiple gunshot wounds. Iredale says Enriquez was shot 16 times with military-style automatic weapons in the hands of three officers named in the lawsuit.
“Instead of just waiting, they provoked a crisis and then used it to kill someone unnecessarily,” Iredale said.
A video was created for Enriquez’s memorial service. It shows him at happier moments in his life. He was remembered at Barrio Logan VFW Post 7420 by fellow veterans, some of whom he served with in the Navy.
“It hurts. It’s like a family member losing somebody,” a Navy friend said.
Chula Vista police nor the city responded to NBC 7’s emails before this story was published but did tell The San Diego Union-Tribune they don’t respond to questions about pending litigation.
Iredale says once served, the city has 30 days to respond before the case can be heard in court.
The lawsuit says Enriquez retired from the Navy with both physical and mental disabilities.