{"id":195848,"date":"2026-02-27T02:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/195848\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T02:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:50:07","slug":"family-demands-justice-for-man-killed-by-anaheim-police-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/195848\/","title":{"rendered":"Family demands justice for man killed by Anaheim police officer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justice for Rudy Martinez, that’s what a grieving family is seeking five months after he was shot and killed by an Anaheim police officer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His loved ones said he was in a mental health crisis and should have been helped, not killed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“No mother should have to bury her son at 36,” said Jamal Tooson, the family’s attorney. “The lawsuit is for violating his constitutional rights. Certainly, this force was excessive.”<\/p>\n

Attorneys for Martinez’s family filed a claim against the city and the Anaheim Police Department, arguing the officer involved should have used de-escalation tactics or less-lethal options instead of gunfire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He could have, prior to exiting his vehicle, armed himself with a taser,” Tooson said. “He could have used pepper spray. He could have used nonlethal rubber bullets.”<\/p>\n

The Anaheim Police Department said in a statement that the encounter was “a dynamic, split-second, rapidly evolving, tense situation.” The city of Anaheim agreed, saying everything happened quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Our officer responded to a call next to an elementary school in session, where, without provocation, he immediately faced a threat to life and safety,” city spokesperson Mike Lyster said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dash camera video shows the moments leading up to the incident. Anaheim PD said the deadly shooting happened on Sept. 15, 2025, after an officer responded to reports of a man acting suspiciously and carrying a shovel near Holly Street and Falmouth Avenue in front of John Marshall Elementary School.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Body camera video shows Martinez holding a broken shovel, running toward a patrol SUV and striking the door. Moments later, Martinez moves toward the officer before he’s shot.<\/p>\n

Paramedics took Martinez to a hospital, where he died.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We recognize the importance of mental health intervention,” Lyster said. “Sadly, there was no time to bring in resources and to do so without putting the lives of mental health workers at risk.”<\/p>\n

Attorneys for the family argue there was time and demand changes in how police respond to people experiencing mental health crises.<\/p>\n

“It doesn’t mean a mental health unit would be the only responsive unit, but have them be a part of a team that responds to the call,” attorney Antonio Villegas said. “Let’s preserve lives.”<\/p>\n

The shooting is being investigated by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Justice for Rudy Martinez, that’s what a grieving family is seeking five months after he was shot and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-195848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}