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POLICE MISTAKENLY KILL YOUNG HUSBAND

An officer chasing suspects encountered him in his front yard.
 
Published Oct. 30, 2008

LOS ANGELES - When Julian Alexander heard a strange noise in his yard, he reacted the way many people would - he went outside to investigate, taking a stick with him. Moments later, the young father-to-be lay dying on the ground, shot twice by a police officer who was chasing suspected burglars through the neighborhood.

Relatives said Wednesday that Alexander, a 20-year-old newlywed, was shot without any warning from the officer and they want to know what happened.

"He heard a noise, went to check it out," father-in-law Darryl Mooney, 46, said by telephone. "The next thing you know, he's shot by police."

The Anaheim Police Department said the officer, whose name it withheld, was driving in a marked police car about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday when he saw four youths who ran when they spotted him.

He chased on foot and the group splintered, running over fences and through yards. Police Chief John Welter said the officer encountered Alexander in his front yard, mistook him for a suspect and shot him. He was declared dead at a hospital.

"Julian Alexander was innocent of anything that was going on in the neighborhood at that time," Welter said. "We certainly don't want to take the life of someone who is mistakenly believed to be involved in some criminal activity."

According to police, Alexander was holding a "club-style weapon." Mooney said it was a broomstick. Alexander's wife and mother said they saw him handcuffed and bleeding in the front yard.

Alexander, who got married Oct. 19 and had moved in with his in-laws about a year ago, was a happy young man who worked at J.C. Penney Co. with dreams of becoming a veterinarian, Mooney said. His wife, 19-year-old Renee, is due to give birth Dec. 14.

The Orange County District Attorney's Office said it was investigating to determine whether the officer was criminally culpable.