County attorney says shooting was justified

The Yuma Police Department confirmed the actions of an officer that fatally shot a woman in Downtown Yuma in May were justified.

YPD said the Yuma County Attorney’s office made the ruling Wednesday, determining the actions of Officer Van Horn were justified.

According to the police report, officer Carpenter responded to a domestic disturbance call on May 7th in the west parking lot of the Gowan Company located in Downtown Yuma.

The disturbance involved deceased Lisa Rivera and her husband at the time, Michael Rivera; both were employees of Gowan Company. At the time they were in the process of getting a divorce and witnesses report that Lisa was extremely upset about the situation.

Officer Van Horn arrived on the scene initially in response to a different call but was advised of the domestic disturbance involving Lisa and Michael. Officer Van Horn was also present when Lisa drove away from the parking lot after arguing with Michael. A Gowan employee informed Officer Van Horn that earlier in the day Lisa had threatened to kill Michael and herself.

According to the report by YPD, Lisa later returned to the location, abruptly stopped her vehicle, got out and began running quickly toward Michael.

Officer Carpenter intervened and restrained Lisa from getting closer to Michael. She was taken down to the ground by officers. Based on the information provided by officers, Officer Carpenter had a hold of her left arm, while Officer Van Horn grabbed her right arm, Officer Van Horn says he immediately noticed a small .380 caliber handgun in Lisa’s right hand. Lisa then pointed the handgun in the direction of Officer Van Horn as he yelled “gun” and fired one round in the upper right chest area of Lisa.

Officer Carpenter also noticed the handgun in Lisa’s hand at the same time he heard the shot fired by Officer Van Horn. As both officers backed off, with Officer Carpenter now drawing his weapon, Lisa laid motionless. One witness reported seeing Lisa with a gun in her hand before she was restrained by officers.

Through further investigation, police learned the weapon Lisa held was not loaded, but neither officer knew that at the time.

The autopsy report documents state that Lisa was shot once in the upper right chest and that her gunshot wound resulted in her death. A toxicology report also documents that Lisa had ethyl alcohol in her blood at the time.

In Officer Van Horn’s police report he described the incident in detail, saying he saw the handgun in Lisa’s hand and saw the weapon pointed directly at his face. He admits he shot one round at Lisa in defense of himself and also in defense of Officer Carpenter and Michael Rivera.

The office of Yuma County Attorney says there is no doubt that Officer Van Horn acted reasonably and appropriately under the statue A.R.S. 13-410 (C) (1) that states the use of deadly physical force by a peace officer against another is justified when the peace officer reasonably believes it is necessary “to defend himself or a third person from what the peace officer reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of deadly physical force.”