Court records: Redondo shot cop out of fear
Gary Grado, Tribune
February 3, 2010 - 7:05PM
The motive for killing a Gilbert police officer was apparently fear, according to a court document released Wednesday.
Christopher A. Redondo, 35, invoked his right to silence after the shooting death of Lt. Eric Shuhandler and an ensuing 50-mile chase and shootout Jan. 28, but he kept making "spontaneous statements," according to the document. Christopher A. Redondo
Daimen Irizarry
Police quoted him as saying, "I'm sorry, he scared me."
The document, known as a probable cause statement, made public for the first time an abundance of details of the shooting and chase.
Redondo, the suspected gunman, has been booked into jail on charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
The suspected driver, Daimen Irizarry, 30, was booked Tuesday on charges of aggravated assault and felony flight.
Irizarry didn't invoke his right to silence, according to the court document.
Irizarry and Redondo had visited friends in Chandler and left in Redondo's truck sometime after 9 p.m.
Redondo sent a text message at 9:21 p.m. to Irizarry's father that he found odd.
It read in part, "KEEP IT GANGSTER" and "LET THE BULLETS SPIT NO LOVE."
Irizarry was driving because of a hand injury to Redondo.
Shuhandler pulled the truck over at 10:42 p.m. for an obstructed license plate, and they pulled into a parking lot at the southeast corner of Val Vista Drive and Baseline Road.
Shuhandler asked for a records check for Irizarry and Christopher "Aredondo."
Shuhandler asked dispatchers to check similarly spelled names for warrants because Redondo seemed unhappy with him. [Cops will shake you down even more if you don't like cops! I don't like police criminals who illegally stop people with out "probable cause"]
Dispatchers found a possible match, and Shuhandler asked for backup at 10:51 p.m. because he was going to get Redondo out of the truck.
A minute later, there were garbled sounds from Shuhandler's open microphone.
Some Taco Bell customers saw a police officer standing at the passenger side of the truck as they were leaving the restaurant and then they heard a gunshot.
Two Mesa police sergeants across the street also heard the shots.
Irizarry denied knowing there was a gun in the truck and denied possessing a gun or shooting Shuhandler, who was shot in the head.
"Daimen stated he was looking in his side-view mirror when he heard a 'pow,'" the document reads. "He panicked and drove away as Christopher yelled for him to 'go.'"
In Shuhandler's waist band was Irizarry's driver's license and on the ground in his blood was Redondo's insurance card, which spelled his last name as Aredondo.
A Gilbert police officer spotted the truck at Higley and Baseline roads, and Redondo fired two more rounds, striking the police car in the radiator.
Irizarry told detectives that he called Redondo's father and business partner and asked them to meet them in Globe as police chased them on U.S. 60 heading toward the town.
He also called his father, who encouraged him to pull over.
Irizarry's father and Redondo's family told police Redondo had become increasingly distrustful of police since he got out of prison in 2008, and he had become increasingly violent, especially toward animals.
Irizarry said Redondo climbed into the back of the truck and began throwing things out the back.
A police car became disabled when it hit an air compressor.
The officer pulled over and found a revolver on the roadside among the objects that had been tossed out.
Redondo's father told police he kept a .357 revolver in the truck and his son knew about it, and his son had also recently gotten another handgun.
After the truck came to a stop at Apple Valley Road and U.S. 60 in Pinal County, the men took cover at the front of the truck.
Police got into a gunfight with Redondo and wounded both men.
Police found the father's revolver where the chase ended.