Michael Jonathan Cortez was crouched in a “surrendering place” with no weapon in his arms when an FBI agent burst into an Oakland smoke store and fatally shot him within the chest, a brand new lawsuit filed by his mother and father claims.
Cortez, 31, bled to loss of life earlier than he may obtain medical remedy, after agent Gail Paresa shot him in September 2021 in East Oakland, in keeping with the lawsuit filed by outstanding Oakland civil rights lawyer John Burris.
The FBI has alleged that Cortez tried to flee and brandished a gun in the course of the eight-second encounter with an agent within the 2500 block of Fruitvale Avenue. The agent was a part of a federal job drive charged with executing federal and native warrants who had been surveilling Cortez as a result of he had a warrant from the feds and Hayward towards him, the FBI said. The FBI claims the agent not solely recognized themself however was carrying an armored vest that will have proven they have been a legislation enforcement agent when coming into the shop. The company, nevertheless, didn’t clarify what type that purported identification took.
The lawsuit filed Thursday by Hilma and Charles Cortez claims that their son was purchasing in U-U Smoke Store when he was “executed with out cheap justification or trigger.” Cortez’s good friend was outdoors the store and Paresa yelled “get out of the way in which” earlier than coming into with a gun drawn, the lawsuit claims. Witnesses didn’t hear the agent determine themself a legislation enforcement officer or difficulty any instructions to Cortez, the lawsuit in U.S. District Court docket in San Francisco alleges.
Cortez posed no “imminent menace” to Paresa or the group at massive, the lawsuit claims.
The FBI on Saturday declined to touch upon the lawsuit. The company has stated its agent entered the store alone with a gun in hand and a dozen different federal brokers close by outdoors. The FBI claims Cortez was attempting to flee by the door the agent used and ran into the agent, who pushed Cortez again then shot him after Cortez drew a gun.
The lawsuit alleges Cortez was not attempting to exit by the door, however as a substitute was searching for “to run to a protected space of the shop because the agent entered the store.”
Burris stated by cellphone that he has been attempting to get video of the incident from authorities since shortly after the taking pictures, however to this point they’ve refused to supply it. A month after the taking pictures, about 100 protesters marched from Oakland Metropolis Corridor to the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Constructing to demand that authorities launch particulars concerning the killing, together with video footage from inside the shop. “You killed someone who was shopping for beef jerky and Gatorade — someone who was my household, my blood,” Cortez’s sister Marilyn Cortez stated on the protest.
Burris stated he anticipated to acquire video by way of the court docket course of.
County court docket data present Cortez was wished on felony residential housebreaking and home violence warrants stemming from an incident a few month earlier than his loss of life. In response to a legal criticism, Hayward police suspect Cortez broke into his ex-girlfriend’s condominium on Aug. 16 and choked her earlier than fleeing when he realized she had referred to as 911.
