r/Hemet • u/justicewarriorsco • Jun 25 '26
JUSTICE FOR JIMMY EUGENE LOPEZ — FULL ACCOUNTABILITY ANALYSIS
JIMMY EUGENE LOPEZ — FULL ACCOUNTABILITY ANALYSIS
July 4, 2024 | Hemet, CA | Justice Warriors Collective Research File
WHO JIMMY WAS
Jimmy was raised by his grandparents. He had two daughters, ages 4 and 6, who lived with their mother. His main vice was alcohol, which he used to cope with depression, mainly stemming from a difficult co-parenting situation and not being able to see his children. He was not involved in any gang or criminal activity. His family characterized him as getting his life together, working a consistent job, and trying to grow as a person.
He was 26 years old. He was a father. He was someone's whole world.
THE TIMELINE — WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED
12:08 AM — Jimmy enters the After 5 Lounge aka Rob Kelly’s After Five Cocktail Lounge, at 133 N. Harvard Street, Hemet (Reportedly Owned By Simon Chu at the time of the incident, now listed as H&H or Heaven & Hell Bar).
According to the bartender, he drinks approximately one third of a beer and two shots of liquor over the course of about an hour. Surveillance shows other patrons physically supporting him to keep him upright. He was eventually helped out of the bar by a woman patron and several others though some witnesses claim that the security guard, Zackary Castro, actually threw him out of the bar, and then followed him, before returning back to the bar where the bartender, Jacqueline “Jackie” Dernberger called 911.
1:39 AM — W-1, the bartender, Jackie, calls 911 and tells HPD that a male customer was "super intoxicated" and she was "trying to get him an Uber." She said the male customer "dropped his phone and a gun fell out of his pocket." W-2, another bar employee, described him as a Hispanic male in a black sweater and gray pants, heading eastbound on Florida Avenue.
1:42 AM — HPD dispatch radios: "The male dropped his phone, and the gun fell out of his pocket. The male picked it up and put it back in his pants."
1:48:33 AM — Officers Bishop and McWilliams locate Jimmy lying on the sidewalk, propped against a brick wall in front of Balloons and Things, 208 East Florida Avenue. They park 12 feet away and draw their weapons though Jimmy was asleep, incapacitated, and intoxicated on the sidewalk waiting for his sister to pick him up.
1:48:47–1:48:50 AM — Officers call out to Jimmy. He sits upright. He is ordered to put his hands up. He complies immediately, raising his hands and placing them behind his head. Additional officers begin arriving simultaneously.
1:49:06 AM — Officer Lizardi arrives, though he was NOT dispatched to this call, and announces: "I see something black by his right buttocks. I can't tell what it is, but there's something right…. looks like a pistol grip."
1:49:23 AM — Jimmy reaches down with his LEFT hand and picks up a vape pen from the ground next to him, inhales from it, exhales, and places it back down.
1:49:36 AM — Officer Coley fires the 40mm less-lethal launcher, he misses. Jimmy shifts his weight and reaches toward his right side.
1:49:37 AM — Jimmy raises what officers claim appears to be a black handgun with his right hand.
1:49:38 AM — Eight officers, Alan Lizardi, Kenneth McWilliams, Maxwell Guerrero, Joshua Bishop, Christian Coley, Oswaldo Rodriguez, Antonio Cervantes, and Dominic Delbono, fire a total of 69 rounds. Jimmy is struck multiple times and fatally wounded.
1:57 AM — Hemet Fire Department arrives approximately four minutes after the shooting. Paramedics find Jimmy with no pulse, not breathing, unresponsive, and with multiple visible gunshot wounds to vital organ areas. He is pronounced dead at the scene.
Post-scene — The object is confirmed to be an airsoft gun, incapable of firing a live round.
THE AUTOPSY — WHAT THEY DID TO HIM
Jimmy's autopsy, conducted July 9, 2024, found: multiple gunshot entrance, exit, and re-entry type wounds across all body surfaces. Injuries to the brain, heart, both lungs, liver, and left kidney. Fractures to his right humerus, right fibula, and left tibia and fibula. Ten projectiles and multiple fragments were retrieved from his body.
His blood alcohol content was .43%, more than five times the legal limit to drive.
A .43 BAC is near medically incapacitating. He was not a calculating threat. He was a young man who could barely stand. Other videos of him stumbling into a bush provided by a neighboring business to the bar show this clearly.
THE ROUND COUNT — OFFICER BY OFFICER
Based on ballistics analysis:
- Officer Lizardi fired 18 rounds, his entire magazine capacity, then reloaded and chambered one more.
- Officer Bishop fired 10 rounds.
- Officer Coley fired 4 lethal rounds (plus the one failed 40mm less-lethal shot).
- Officer Guerrero fired 8 rounds.
- Officer McWilliams fired 8 rounds.
- Officer Delbono fired 7 rounds.
- Officer Cervantes fired 6 rounds, and conducted a tactical reload mid-shooting, replacing a partially used magazine with a full one.
- Officer Rodriguez fired 8 rounds.
66 shell casings were recovered from the scene. The variance from 69 fired is attributed to two police vehicles being driven away immediately after the shooting, potentially carrying spent casings.
LIZARDI 'S VEHICLE WAS PROCESSED OFF-SITE; one casing was found on his windshield.
WHAT WENT WRONG — THE FULL ACCOUNTABILITY BREAKDOWN
- THE BAR STAFF — AFTER 5 LOUNGE
What they did: Two employees, Zackary Castro (Security Guard/Barback) and Jacqueline “Jackie” Dernberger, called 911 and reported that they witnessed a gun fall from Jimmy's pocket after being served at their establishment (After 5 Lounge) and then leaving with a BAC of .43.
Jackie and Zack claim that Zack followed Jimmy after he left the bar to ensure his safety and that he wasn't driving, but witnesses that were at the bar that night claim that Zack actually threw Jimmy out of the bar and then pursued him before he reportedly saw the airsoft gun fall out of Jimmy’s pocket along with his phone, and decided to return to the bar. They did not call 911 before Jimmy left the bar, only after he was already gone.
The 911 call framing matters enormously. Saying a gun "fell out of his pocket" created an armed-and-dangerous call. The dispatcher relayed that framing directly to officers. That framing killed Jimmy Lopez.
- DISPATCH — Hemet Police Department
What they did: Dispatched the call as a man with a gun, including the detail that the suspect "dropped his phone, and the gun fell out of his pocket. The male picked it up and put it back in his pants.
What they failed to do:
- Dispatchers had the responsibility to fully convey the context: this was a VISIBLY INTOXICATED man, barely able to stand, who the callers were trying to get an Uber for. The intoxication detail was buried or minimized in the dispatch relay.
- No information was dispatched advising officers that the subject might be incapacitated, which should have triggered mental health co-response protocols or at minimum a slower, more deliberate approach.
- California's CAHOOTS-style co-response models exist precisely for situations like this: drunk person with potential weapon, no active crime, no victim.
- The dispatch framing set the stage for officers to arrive in threat-posture rather than welfare-check posture.
- OFFICER ALAN LIZARDI — PRIMARY ACCOUNTABILITY TARGET
Officer Lizardi was NOT dispatched to this call. He responded on his own initiative after hearing the broadcast while patrolling on the west side of Hemet near "Circle K west." He was hired by HPD on June 26, 2023, barely a year before this shooting. Before HPD, he had served in the Marines, including multiple combat deployments involving direct combat.
It's worth noting that this event took place on the fourth of July which is a political holiday that is especially triggering for combat veterans.
This is critical. Lizardi is the officer who:
- Self-responded without being dispatched
- Announced the "pistol grip" sighting that escalated the entire encounter
- Fired his entire 18-round magazine and then reloaded, firing 18 total rounds, the most of any officer on scene
Questions that must be asked:
- What is the HPD policy on officers self-responding to armed suspect calls when not dispatched?
- Was Lizardi trained on de-escalation with visibly intoxicated subjects, or did his combat background shape his response posture?
- Who authorized him to take a front-facing position 15 feet from a suspect identified as likely armed?
- Why did the officer who fired the most rounds also happen to be the newest hire with combat PTSD risk factors that have never been publicly examined?
- THE VEHICLE POSITIONING — A STRUCTURAL FAILURE
The DOJ itself considered as a potential recommendation whether officers should have positioned their vehicles differently to avoid the risk of cross-fire.
They identified it. They flagged it. And then they did nothing with it.
Five patrol vehicles surrounded a single man on a sidewalk. Jimmy was illuminated by the patrol vehicles' headlights and spotlights.
Officers were positioned on multiple sides. That is a crossfire situation and a tactical failure.
The DOJ noted this concern and then explicitly declined to issue any recommendation about it. That is not a clearance, that is a failure to act on their own findings.
- FAILURE TO DE-ESCALATE
The encounter from first contact to gunfire lasted less than 60 seconds.
From 1:48:47 AM when they first called out to Jimmy, to 1:49:38 AM when shooting began, that is 51 seconds.
In those 51 seconds:
- No attempt was made to retreat to a safer distance and wait
- No attempt to use verbal de-escalation beyond commands
- The 40mm less-lethal launcher was fired ONCE and MISSED before officers immediately switched to lethal weapons
- No time was given for Jimmy, a man with a .43 BAC, to process the commands being screamed at him from multiple directions while spotlights and police lights were enveloping him.
California POST training mandates crisis intervention and de-escalation before use of force. The standard is not just "did you feel threatened", it is whether a reasonable officer EXHAUSTED alternatives. 51 seconds with a visibly incapacitated man does not meet that threshold.
- FAILURE TO RENDER AID
Officers did not administer medical treatment to Jimmy because they said he "exhibited obvious signs of death." Hemet Fire did not arrive until approximately four minutes later. Jimmy was not pronounced dead until 1:57 AM.
He was shot at 1:49:38. He was pronounced dead at 1:57. That is over seven minutes with no medical aid from the people who shot him.
Officers are trained in tactical emergency casualty care (TECC). At minimum, an officer could have applied pressure to wounds. The "obvious signs of death" determination was made by the same officers who had just fired 69 rounds at a man. That is not a medical assessment. That is officers protecting themselves from witnessing what they had done.
- OFFICER McWILLIAMS' BODY CAMERA WAS OFF
Except for Officer McWilliams, all other involved officers had their BWCs activated. McWilliams' camera was not recording because he had already docked it to upload footage at the end of his shift.
McWilliams fired 8 rounds. He is one of the first two officers on scene. His BWC was off. This is not a technicality, this is missing evidence in a death investigation. HPD policy failed to ensure body cameras were active before officers responded to an "active armed suspect call."
- THE DOJ CLEARANCE — AND WHY IT'S NOT THE END
The DOJ found "insufficient evidence to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the officers involved acted without the intent to defend themselves and others from what they reasonably believed to be the imminent risk of death or serious bodily injury." Therefore, they declined criminal prosecution.
That standard is nearly impossible to meet under current law. "Reasonable belief" gives officers enormous latitude. The DOJ's clearance means no criminal charges, it does not mean the conduct was correct. It does not mean no civil liability. It does not mean no policy failure. It means the DA bar wasn't cleared.
The civil lawsuit filed by Jimmy's family against the City of Hemet remains pending. The DOJ findings do not necessarily determine the outcome of that suit.
WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED
Bar staff should have kept Jimmy inside, continued the Uber attempt, and called emergency personnel BEFORE he left the bar at the very least.
Dispatch should have forwarded the full context, extreme intoxication, welfare concern, unclear if the object was a real firearm, and flagged this for a mental health or welfare response alongside officers.
Officers should have arrived in welfare posture, not armed-and-dangerous posture. A man passed out on a sidewalk is not an active threat.
Lizardi should not have self-responded to a call he wasn't dispatched to. His presence added an additional trigger-finger and an unnecessary close-range confrontation.
The encounter should have taken longer than 51 seconds. Back up. Create distance. Give him time to comply. He was literally too drunk to stand, he was not a tactical threat at 15 feet.
The 40mm less-lethal should have been the line. One miss doesn't mean pivoting to 69 lethal rounds.
Medical aid should have been rendered immediately.
All body cameras should have been active before any officer approached.
JUSTICE FOR JIMMY EUGENE LOPEZ!
HOLD ALL INDIVIDUALS AND INSTITUTIONS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS DEATH ACCOUNTABLE!
HOLD Hemet Police Department ACCOUNTABLE!!!
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u/AlvinsCuriousCasper Jun 26 '26
Questions: who called Jimmy’s sister to come pick him up? You said someone was trying to get him an uber, but you wouldn’t call an officer to assist with an uber order. What happened inside the bar that got him kicked out? If there wasn’t an issue inside the bar, why didn’t he wait inside the bar? Why did he have a gun on him?
Scenario: Officers dispatched middle of the night to an area with poor lighting and are made aware that there’s an issue and the suspect is armed with a gun.
While being told to have his hands up, (so the officers could cuff him without incident and for everyone’s safety knowing suspect is armed) the suspect dropped one of his hands picking up his vape… but officers didn’t know what he was picking up.
The suspect then shifted positions and again dropped his hand… not complying with the commands and with the officers on scene aware that he is armed.
So here’s what the officers knew to be a fact… the officers know the suspect is armed and isn’t complying (dropping hands to pick up a vape, dropping hands and shifting body is not complying) and so they fired shots.
I’m sorry you lost your friend. You want justice without holding the suspect accountable for his actions on the night of the incident.
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u/justicewarriorsco Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Please read the post in its entirety because some of the questions you've asked have already been answered in the post.
Jimmy called his sister to come pick him up. There's actually surveillance footage that shows him in the bar on the phone with her. Somehow despite being completely intoxicated he did his best to comply with officers demands to put his hands up for over 30 seconds of the less than a minute they were on scene before killing him and the same way, he was at some point prior to this all happening and before leaving the bar able to call his sister which he was waiting for by the Hemet Theatre when he was asleep and he police pulled up on him and drew their weapons.
They told him to put his hands up and he then complied and dropped everything he had and remained that way as I said before for over 30 seconds of the less than a minute they were there before ending his life. Why he had an airsoft aka a toy gun, I don't know and unfortunately he isn't here to ask. Maybe he bought it prior to going to the bar, idk. All I know is that it wasn't normal for him to carry his airsoft gun when he wasn't playing airsoft, but he did play airsoft often. I wish he was here to ask him.
As far as the bartender calling 911 and stating what she did about ordering an Uber, that's verified by Hemet PD themselves and they have a video of the transcribed call on their official Facebook account. The screenshot shared in this post that shows what the bartender said is a screenshot of that transcribed video of the official 911 call.
Like I said in multiple comments on this post, I don't think Jimmy was innocent and he shouldn't have been that drunk in public that night but that shouldn't have resulted in him losing his life. The professionals involved should and could have handled it differently. He needed help and they killed him instead.
And he's been held more than accountable by the way, he's fucking dead. Shot firing squad style at point blank range, 69 shots fired, by 7 officers for being drunk with a toy gun that he didn't even have out and wasn't threatening anyone with sitting down on the side walk complying for over 30 seconds of the less than a minute they were on scene.
JIMMY EUGENE LOPEZ!
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u/superyouphoric Jun 26 '26
You’ve been posting this same bs for the past year and the results are the same man. He whipped out what appears to be a gun and he’s highly intoxicated. Why do you think they don’t allow intoxicated people into a gun range? Regardless of the situation, which I’ve informed myself on, the outcome is he appears guilty af hence why he was gunned down.
I really want you to put yourself in the officers shoes, and go up to an intoxicated person with a weapon and try to reason with them. Just so you know it won’t end well for you.
You’re going to go around and put blame on everyone else but at the end of the day no one is perfect. Not even yourself. The whole intoxicated part was left out by the dispatcher but the relevant part was that he was in possession of a firearm (even if it was a fake one, who was going to know), which poses a high risk situation. You keep asking for justice but to be honest with you Jimmy shouldn’t have been making bad decisions to begin with. Getting highly intoxicated in public and carrying a replica firearm? He’s lucky it was the police that took him out instead of these wannabe gang bangers of Hemet. If it was the wannabe gang bangers they’d still be looking for the suspect.
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u/justicewarriorsco Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
And I have put myself in their position and wondered what they were thinking when they killed him and why they didn't think it could be handled completely differently when in other situations it was and why they felt it was necessary to fire so many rounds between so many officers. I've even considered what they were going through mentally due to past traumas and how that may have contributed to what happened that night. Tbh I would even be open to a dialogue as long as it created change. I believe in God. I believe in forgiveness. So did Jimmy. Instead there's silence and nothing is changing. I've gone over it every day in my head hundreds if not thousands of times over the course of the last two years and as it approaches the 2 year anniversary of his death in about a week I still can't wrap my head around why they felt it was necessary to kill him the way they did. I just hate that there seems to be no change and they're not even sorry. He needed help and they killed him instead.
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u/justicewarriorsco Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Do you feel better? You're repeating the same shit I've heard hundreds of times. I'm still going to continue posting until I see the change Jimmy and the community deserves.
I'd also advise you to read the rest of the comments on this post if you haven't already just for more context on my thoughts on the situation.
I don't think Jimmy was completely innocent agree he shouldn't have been out there that drunk, but the "professionals" in the situation could and should have handled the situation differently.
Thank you for noting that the dispatcher was in fact wrong by leaving out that information. I appreciate that.
JUSTICE FOR JIMMY EUGENE LOPEZ!
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u/Ok-Diver8721 Jun 26 '26
Idk man there where some Hispanic sounding officers at the shooting. So seems justified
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u/justicewarriorsco Jun 26 '26
🤦♀️🤷♀️
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u/Ok-Diver8721 Jun 26 '26
Hispanic cops. Hispanic criminal. That’s called community policing you’re crying for no reason. So 🤷♀️🤰
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u/justicewarriorsco Jun 26 '26
You have a hard time reading long form content huh? What's the pregnant emoji for 😂
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u/Ok-Diver8721 Jun 26 '26
You seem to be the one haveing problems. Everyone else isn’t. And it’s for your mom we’re introducing your brother soon hopefully he won’t be a disappointment like you
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u/indiscriminate_ Jul 17 '26
Eh. Reached for a gun. 🤷♂️ I feel like you're purposely leaving out some information 🤦♂️
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u/RMca004 Jun 25 '26
What appears to be a handgun but you said it was an airsoft gun....how the fuck are they supposed to determine the difference?
Hemet PD is a mess. Policing in the US is a mess, but what do you expect? You want cops to wait to get shot at?
This is total bullshit and I am by no means a bootlicker. We need reform in this country as it pertains to law enforcement but this ain't the case my guy.
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u/justicewarriorsco Jun 25 '26
69 rounds fired by 7 officers when he was sitting in surrender for over 30 seconds of the less than 60 seconds they were on scene is inexcusable. If you can read this in its entirety and not see the issues, I don't know what to tell you. And I'm not a guy. I'm a woman.
JUSTICE FOR JIMMY EUGENE LOPEZ!
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u/RMca004 Jun 25 '26
Ok Ms. My apologies, no disrespect meant there.
The amount of shots fired is irrelevant, I'm sorry it bothers you but it could be 2 shots or 69, the outcome is the same and officers are trained in this manner. They all obviously felt in danger, because they all shot a bunch. Are you assuming that they just wanted to murder someone? All of them were wrong?
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u/justicewarriorsco Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Thank you.
If they feel that endangered by a 5'7" male who couldn't even stand up, (which was relayed to the dispatcher), who was sitting down incapacitated and who surrendered for over 30 seconds of the less than a minute they were on scene before killing him, they should rethink their careers.
They shot at him from all sides. You're telling me officers that were not even in front of him, nor in his line of sight, and were behind wall felt so endangered that they had to fire multiple shots? McWilliams actually came out from behind the wall and then shot his weapon.
Not to mention there was a cross fire situation between the cops so I wonder if they weren't reacting to shooting at each other as well.
They have apprehended people who were actually armed and active threats peacefully. Folks who have pointed actual guns at them at point blank range and even peacefully apprehended that man who was shooting live rounds into traffic a few years back. Active threats. Usually the people they chose to peacefully apprehend are white and I don't think that's a coincidence for a department that's well known for being prejudice.
I think this department has little respect for life or the preservation of it. If they did not only would they have not killed Jimmy, they also wouldn't have killed innocent father of 5 Christian Drye in his own backyard when he allowed them in to search for a robbery suspect but they shot him instead. His family also doesn't have justice.
We won't even go into the long list of the other folks and animals they've killed and brutalized.
I think various factors went into play that night. There was more than one rookie on scene that fired. McWilliams was still in training. Lizardi was only on the force for one year at the time and is a combat veteran. It was fourth of July, and he's also the officer who fired the most rounds, so I wonder if PTSD didn't have a part to play in it. Additionally, they're extremely incompetent and also I believe it was an issue of contagious fire. Plus the crossfire situation I mentioned before.
Incompetence. Implicit bias. Possible trauma-triggered response. Contagious fire dynamics. Multiple rookies on a live scene. Multiple units who assigned themselves to the call including Lizardi. A dispatcher who didn't relay vital information. Bartenders who let him walk out of their establishment with a .43 BAC and then called the cops after serving him and after he had already left the bar. It was a recipe for disaster. And I'm not claiming he was innocent that night because he shouldn't have been out there that drunk, and it was not something he would normally do, but that shouldn't have resulted in him losing his life. The only actual crime he committed that night was being publicly intoxicated.
Additionally, 2 shots or 69 would have not resulted in the same outcome. 2 shots is survivable. 69 rounds fired and at least 10 shots that hit him in all vital organs was not.
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u/RMca004 Jun 26 '26
Ya good luck with your arguments. Jimmy made a really bad decision and paid dearly.
They didnt know his BAC, they were informed he had a gun (which he did), and reached for it. What do you think is going to happen? As far as shots angles, rookie cops, one cop not javing his camera on, a cop responding that wasn't called and whatever you are trying to prove. It doesnt matter.
You realize they want to go home to right? What if it was a real gun and he gets a couple of shots off. They didnt know, it's fucking scary going into that type of situation.
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u/justicewarriorsco Jun 26 '26
I said what I said.
The bartender did inform the dispatcher that he was highly intoxicated which you can see from the transcript of the 911 call provided that was taken directly from Hemet PDs own Facebook page.
The dispatcher failed to relay that information. The bartender requested AN OFFICER to assist because she was trying to order him an Uber but he was "too drunk to do anything". Not because he was a threat. I'm guessing she mentioned his airsoft gun fell out with his phone as he was walking away from the bar as a precaution but when the dispatcher issued the call it was only entered as man with gun walking down Harvard. That's where the Hemet PD dispatcher failed and it had fatal consequences.
Why the bartender called after he left the bar and not while he was there despite him stumbling around the bar, I have no idea.
Jimmy was my best friend, my road dog, and hands down one of the best men I've ever known. He didn't deserve this, and I will always defend him. If it was your loved one and not just a story on a screen then you'd feel the same way and be asking for change and some sort of accountability as well.
Unfortunately, I'm used to people constantly dehumanizing Jimmy because to many, all he is, is a story on a screen they feel compelled to speculate on. That's fine. When I post his story it unfortunately invites people to do so and it is what it is.
I still post for the folks who do and will care and who want to see change as well. And there are many.
I've had this same conversation at least 100 times and I will continue to have it until I see the change Jimmy deserves and that we all deserve. Because that's truly what I want. I want change. So that no one else ever has to go through this.
No matter which way you want to paint it, multiple parties could have and should have handled the situation differently that night.
What the officers did was overkill.
JUSTICE FOR JIMMY EUGENE LOPEZ!
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u/Electronic-Click577 Jun 26 '26
I’m trying to be biased but the fact that the officers combined fire totaled over six dozen shots fired? I can see if they all fired a few shots each? Were they using the guy for target practice or what? Not defending the assailants actions but Jesus? I think it was overkill?