California Cops Fired After Shooting 2 Black Brothers In The Back, 1 Of Whom Died

Source: Martinez, California, police / Martinez Police

Three now former Martinez, California, police officers have been fired over the 2023 shooting of two brothers, both Black, one of whom died. However, it doesn’t appear that the officers were terminated due to the shooting in and of itself. Instead, they were fired for their conduct after the shots were fired and during the arrest of the surviving brother.

According to KRON 4, Tahmon Wilson and Tommy Wilson were shot by MPD officers on Aug. 18, 2023, outside Velvet, a cannabis dispensary in Martinez. Tahmon was fatally wounded after being shot in the back of the head. Tommy survived after being shot twice in the back. According to the police, the two brothers triggered a security alarm at the dispensary and were suspected of trying to burglarize the place. According to attorneys for the victims’ family, Tommy and Tahmon were driving away from Velvet when the officers opened fire on them.

After the shooting, one of the officers, identified as Giani Arone, said to Tommy, who again, had just been shot in the back twice, “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.” An officer was also accused of striking Tommy multiple times for no discernable reason after he was handcuffed and — I’m just going to switch to all caps for a moment here —  SHOT IN THE BACK TWO TIMES!

From KRON:

Police say the brothers were trying to flee the scene when the sedan crashed into a fire hydrant.

MPD wrote, “In the days following the August 18, 2023 incident, the Martinez Police Department became aware of alleged misconduct that occurred at the scene, after the shots were fired.”

Tommy was a passenger in the sedan. Officer Arone, who arrived on scene after the shooting, struck Tommy with his knee while Tommy was handcuffed, police said.

Chief White wrote in a letter to Arone, “You violated several Martinez Police Department policies during this incident. One of the suspects — who had been shot — exited the vehicle at the direction of officers and was then handcuffed without resisting. While pulling him, you delivered two or three knee strikes to the suspect’s head/face area. Force was not justified because the suspect was handcuffed, not resisting, and not disobeying any commands.”

After Arone learned that Tommy had been shot by officers, Arone taunted the wounded man, telling him, “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes,” according to the police chief.

Taunting a person who had just been shot by police, handcuffed, and victimized by excessive force, was “disgraceful conduct,” the chief wrote.

Officer Arone then agreed to hide two knives for Officer Tirona, one of the officers involved in the shooting. “One of the knives is a type that is prohibited to be worn on duty,” the chief wrote, and Arone hid the knives for Tirona to conceal them from investigators.

Tirona and a second officer in the shooting, Bennett, were booted from the police department for the alleged knife cover-up.

In a perfect world — or at least one where the justice system was fair and cops were  held to the same standards as the citizens they police — the cops who shot the two brothers would be facing criminal charges, not just the loss of their jobs, which, as we know well, won’t prohibit them from being hired by another police department. After all, nothing reported about the incident explains why it was necessary to use deadly force on attempted robbery suspects who did not pose an immediate threat to anyone and may not have been guilty of what they were suspected of doing. 

“There is no reasonable or lawful explanation for the lethal force employed by the four officers involved,” said Tommy’s attorney,  Adanté Pointer of Pointer and Buelna law firm. “State law prohibits using deadly force against a fleeing vehicle that does not pose an immediate threat.”

As it stands, the four officers who opened fire on Tahmon and Tommy Wilson are still being investigated by the California Department of Justice. Martinez Police Chief Andrew White identified the officers as: Cole Bennett, Marc Kahue, Raul Ceja-Mendez, and Alexander Tirona.

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