Ex-Whittier detective testifies about shooting, paralyzing an unarmed man

As he sprinted down an alleyway in April 2020, former Whittier Det. Salvador Murillo was convinced he and his fellow officers were under fire.

- BY JAMES QUEALLY

FORMER Det. Salvador Murillo, with lawyer Vicki Podberesky, in court in 2023.

(MEL MELCON Los Angeles Times)

Murillo, an undercover detective at the time, was chasing a man who had seconds earlier jumped out of a car linked to a robbery. Three gunshots rang out. Murillo said that when he saw the fleeing man, Nicholas Carrillo, reach toward his waist, he feared he would be shot.

“I didn’t want a bullet in my chest,” Murillo told jurors in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Thursday.

Murillo fired four rounds at the fleeing Carrillo in two separate bursts. One shot from the second volley severed Carrillo’s spine, leaving him instantly paralyzed.

After the chase ended, Murillo could not find a gun at the scene. The shots Murillo heard were actually fired by his partner, Cynthia Lopez.

Police later determined that Carrillo was not involved in the robbery that triggered the vehicle stop.

Testifying in his own defense as he stands trial for assault, Murillo spent two days trying to convince a jury that despite his incorrect understanding of the situation, he was still justified when he fired the rounds that ended Carrillo’s ability to walk.

“I can see the back of his elbows, the back of his arms and there's a lot of movement going on and as he’s starting to turn his body, at that time, at that point, I believe he is going to shoot me,” Murillo said of the seconds before he opened fire.

The trial, which began Nov. 10, has marked a pair of legal rarities in L.A. County. Local prosecutors have long been reluctant to prosecute law enforcement officers in on-duty shootings. An officer has not been convicted in such a case since 2000.