BAKERSFIELD, CA -- The sheriff's department, admitting it made a major mistake, following a deadly, deputy involved shooting over the weekend.
It turns out, investigators mis-identified the woman who was shot. On Sunday afternoon, employees with the coroner's office initially said the woman shot and killed was 32-year-old Sarah Bustamante.
But just before noon Monday, the coroner issued a correction, identifying the woman as 42-year-old Maria Rodriguez. The shooting happened around 4:30 Sunday morning in the 1600 block of South Union Avenue.
Three deputies shot and killed a woman -- after they say she pointed what resembled a handgun at them. Investigators say it turns out, the woman was wielding a BB gun, which is a replica of a semi-automatic handgun.
Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood says this is the first time he can recall the coroner's office misidentifing someone shot and killed by deputies. He says he'll make sure it does not happen again. "There are some circumstances that made the employees make some assumptions and assumptions are not positive ID. And so at the end of the day there really is no excuse for what we did we did it wrong and we messed it up there is no question about it."
Sheriff Youngblood says one of the deputies recognized who he thought was Bustamante from a prior arrest a short time earlier and says the booking photos of Bustamante and Rodriguez were very similiar. We asked the sheriff's department if it could provide the women's booking photos for comparison but spokesman Ray Pruitt said the department only releases booking photos when trying to locate someone.
Sheriff Youngblood said Monday afternoon that he has not personally spoken with either women's families. Rodriguez's family was notified Monday, and would not speak with us on camera, but were very upset about the death of their loved one and the sheriff's department's mistake.
The three deputies involved in the shooting, David Stephens, Dwayne Perkins, and Rodney Jones are on leave pending a review. Sheriff Youngblood would not go into details about that part of the investigation.
It turns out, investigators mis-identified the woman who was shot. On Sunday afternoon, employees with the coroner's office initially said the woman shot and killed was 32-year-old Sarah Bustamante.
But just before noon Monday, the coroner issued a correction, identifying the woman as 42-year-old Maria Rodriguez. The shooting happened around 4:30 Sunday morning in the 1600 block of South Union Avenue.
Three deputies shot and killed a woman -- after they say she pointed what resembled a handgun at them. Investigators say it turns out, the woman was wielding a BB gun, which is a replica of a semi-automatic handgun.
Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood says this is the first time he can recall the coroner's office misidentifing someone shot and killed by deputies. He says he'll make sure it does not happen again. "There are some circumstances that made the employees make some assumptions and assumptions are not positive ID. And so at the end of the day there really is no excuse for what we did we did it wrong and we messed it up there is no question about it."
Sheriff Youngblood says one of the deputies recognized who he thought was Bustamante from a prior arrest a short time earlier and says the booking photos of Bustamante and Rodriguez were very similiar. We asked the sheriff's department if it could provide the women's booking photos for comparison but spokesman Ray Pruitt said the department only releases booking photos when trying to locate someone.
Sheriff Youngblood said Monday afternoon that he has not personally spoken with either women's families. Rodriguez's family was notified Monday, and would not speak with us on camera, but were very upset about the death of their loved one and the sheriff's department's mistake.
The three deputies involved in the shooting, David Stephens, Dwayne Perkins, and Rodney Jones are on leave pending a review. Sheriff Youngblood would not go into details about that part of the investigation.