The fatal shotgun blasts came during one of 16 coordinated police assaults throughout western Ventura County on a major drug ring dealing in cocaine and methamphetamine.
Jensen, 30, promoted to the Special Weapons and Tactics unit last July, was shot as many as three times in the shoulder and chest above his protective vest by veteran Sgt. Daniel Christian, 43, officials said. The sergeant had followed Jensen up the staircase after finding no one on the ground floor. The Ventura resident--married and the father of two young girls--was pronounced dead 25 minutes later in a hospital emergency room.
Authorities described the shooting as a tragic accident and, with a police officer fatally shooting a colleague, unprecedented in recent Ventura County history. At an afternoon news conference, grim Police Department officials said they had not yet interviewed Christian, who was suspended with pay pending an investigation.
They said they did not know what caused him to mistake his partner for a suspected drug dealer. Police said the throwing of the diversionary device--which is loud, smoky and bright--was planned. But they could not yet say if it somehow triggered the shooting. I guess it was more pay and more exciting. The raid on the condo in a quiet, residential neighborhood near the Port Hueneme Navy base was part of a sweep of 16 dwellings and businesses by about officers in five cities that concluded a two-year investigation.
All 14 suspects named in police warrants were arrested, including three who had been living in the Manzanita Avenue condo complex where Jensen died. Five handguns and a rifle were seized in the countywide action.
