At 12:35 p.m. on Feb. 4, 2020, Lupita Barbosa called 911 to request medical assistance for her 41-year-old husband Thomas Barbosa. Thomas Barbosa was experiencing a mental-health crisis at their home located off Gas Point Road in Cottonwood. Lupita Barbosa told the dispatcher that her husband was “having psychosis” and imagining things that were not there. She denied that her husband was a danger to himself or others, but said he was scaring their children.
Thomas Barbosa was dead approximately two hours after his wife’s 911 call. He was killed by Shasta County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) Sergeant Jose Gonzalez after a short, low-speed chase and subsequent crash of Barbosa’s pickup.
Photo source: KRCR screen grab.
In April 2021, a district court judge dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Shasta County by the Barbosa family, which claimed, among other things, that SCSO deputies were inadequately trained to deal with mentally-ill individuals.
On May 4, 2021, Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett declared that there was insufficient evidence to support the filing of criminal charges against Gonzalez after members of the SCSO and Redding Police Department conducted an investigation.
After A News Cafe’s Freedom of Information Act request, the SCSO recently made available previously unreleased records regarding Barbosa’s killing. These records include radio traffic, statements from the SCSO officers involved in the fatal incident, as well as detailed photographs and video footage.
Who was Thomas Barbosa?
Thomas Barbosa was a United States Marine Corps combat veteran who served in Iraq from 2001 to 2005. At the end of his active service in the Marine Corps, he was a decorated corporal.
Corporal Thomas Barbosa’s United States Marine Corps plaque. Source: marines.togetherweserved.com
His military operations included Operation Southern Watch (1997 – 2001), Operation Liberation of Iraq (2003) and Operation Transition of Iraq (2003 – 2004).
United States Marine Corps veteran Corporal Thomas Barbosa’s military awards and medals.
At the time of his death, he was classified by the Veterans Administration as 100-percent disabled.
Thomas Barbosa in his United States Marine Corps uniform.
Thomas and Lupita Barbosa met in 2005, after he returned from serving as a Marine in Iraq. The couple married in 2007. Thomas Barbosa’s combat-related post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) worsened in the months before Lupita Barbosa’s final 2020 call for help. He sometimes became violent and abusive, and had reportedly been abusing drugs. Lupita Barbosa was employed by the VA as his primary caregiver.
Earlier in 2019, seeking help for her husband, she transported him to a Sacramento VA Medical Center. On the way to the facility Barbosa attempted to jump from the moving vehicle three times. He stayed in Sacramento for a three-day mental health observation and suicide watch.
Photo source: marines.togetherweserved.com
Three times in 2019, Lupita Barbosa called 911 to request medical aid for her husband. In May, she called to report he was suicidal. When SCSO deputies arrived, they found Thomas Barbosa barricaded in the attic above the couple’s garage. He had self-inflicted wounds on his neck, and refused to come down from the attic. Lupita Barbosa told the deputies that her husband would fight law enforcement officials if they attempted to contact him, or that he might kill himself.
Because of the information about her husband’s mental state provided by Lupita Barbosa, coupled with Thomas Barbosa’s behavior, the SCSO deputies flagged the home, meaning that future law enforcement responses to the Barbosa residence would require three officers and a notification sent to the sergeant on duty.
In June of 2019, dispatchers received a request from an unknown caller who asked for a welfare check on Thomas Barbosa at his home. SCSO Sergeant Gonzalez declined to authorize a welfare check due to his belief that there was no emergency.
In December of 2019, Lupita Barbosa called 911 to report that Thomas Barbosa had cut his wrists in a suicide attempt. Before the SCSO deputies entered the home, Lupita Barbosa opened the door and angrily shouted that she wanted medical help for her husband, not a visit from law enforcement officials. The SCSO deputies left after Thomas Barbosa agreed to show his wrists to prove his injuries were not life-threatening.
Lupita Barbosa called 911 again, the day after her first call in December of 2019, to request medical help for Thomas Barbosa, but the sergeant on duty declined to authorize a welfare check.
Final, fateful 911 call
West Valley Fire Department personnel were the first to respond to Lupita Barbosa’s Feb. 4, 2020, 911 call requesting medical assistance for her husband. Upon arrival, the fire personnel staged nearby and waited for law enforcement officials to arrive so they could safely assist Thomas Barbosa. While waiting, fire personnel saw Lupita Barbosa and her children exit the home. She said they were going to her mother’s house in Corning.
Thomas Barbosa exited the home following his family’s departure. He got into his his Ford F-150 pickup, and pulled up to speak with fire department personnel. He reportedly made a few comments that did not make sense to the fire personnel, then drove down the property’s long driveway. Shortly afterward, and before law enforcement officials arrived, Thomas Barbosa preceded to drive east on Gas Point Road, following his wife’s vehicle.
Lupita Barbosa noticed that Thomas Barbosa was following her just before she received a follow-up call from SCSO deputy Harrison Garr. Garr, a recent graduate of the Law Enforcement Academy at Butte College, had been working on patrol for eight weeks and was training with Deputy Van Eyck.
Under the direction of Van Eyck, Garr asked Lupita Barbosa to drive to the Shasta Livestock Auction Yard on the other side of Cottonwood to meet with them.
At 1:04 p.m., Shasta County Sheriff’s Detective Seth Edwards, who was traveling in the area in an unmarked vehicle, noticed Thomas Barbosa following Lupita Barbosa on Gas Point Road. Detective Edwards decided to follow the two vehicles to the auction yard and determined that the tags on Thomas Barbosa’s truck were expired.
Lupita Barbosa meets with SCSO deputies at auction yard
As Deputy Van Eyck and Deputy Garr arrived at the auction yard parking lot riding in the same vehicle, they witnessed Lupita and Thomas Barbosa’s vehicles parked alongside one another. As they drove toward Lupita Barbosa’s vehicle, Thomas Barbosa drove away. The deputies did not follow Thomas Barbosa, but instead, contacted Lupita Barbosa.
The day after the event on Feb. 5, Deputy Garr reported to Regan Ortega, an investigator with the Redding Police, and SCSO Detective Josh Hambly, that Lupita Barbosa told him she was worried about her husband’s safety. She reminded the deputies he was a veteran suffering from PTSD and other mental health issues. She said her husband was unarmed.
Radio traffic between Deputy Van Eyck, Deputy Garr, and Sergeant Gonzalez confirmed that Thomas Barbosa did not commit a crime, and that Lupita Barbosa called to request medical assistance. Van Eyck advised Gonzalez that Thomas Barbosa was likely returning to their Cottonwood home after leaving the auction yard. While heading to the auction yard, Sergeant Gonzalez spotted Barbosa driving back toward his home.
Sergeant Gonzalez spots Barbosa
At 1:10 p.m., Sergeant Gonzalez reported over the radio that he was following Barbosa. Gonzalez claimed he was hoping Barbosa would return home and that, with his family out of the house, the situation would deescalate. Gonzalez planned to not attempt a traffic stop if it appeared Barbosa was returning home.
Barbosa headed westbound on Gas Point Road, but passed the roads leading to his home. Gonzalez later said he followed Barbosa because he was driving toward a more populated area, and that he worried what Barbosa was going to do next. This section of Gas Point Road is located in a rural, sparsely populated area of Shasta County. Shortly after Gonzalez started tailing Barbosa, he was joined by Detective Seth Edwards.
Video surveillance footage taken by the Gas Point Market gas station and obtained by A News Café, shows that Gonzalez and Edwards were following Barbosa very closely at a normal rate of speed as they passed by at 1:13 p.m.
Screenshots of Gas Point Market video surveillance footage of Thomas Barbosa being followed by Sergeant Gonzalez and Detective Edwards.
After Barbosa passed the road that led to his home, Sergeant Gonzalez, with Detective Edwards behind him, attempted to conduct a traffic stop on Barbosa for his expired tags.
Attempted traffic stop, turned tragic
Sergeant Gonzalez attempted to conduct a traffic stop, with lights flashing and siren wailing on Gas Point Road at 1:17 p.m. Barbosa refused to yield, and the deputies increased their pursuit.
Deputies Fleming, Van Eyck and Garr eventually caught up to aid Gonzalez in the pursuit. Gonzalez then requested assistance from a California Highway Patrol helicopter, which arrived shortly afterward. In the CHP video footage, Barbosa’s truck appeared to be traveling at a normal speed.
Screenshots of the CHP helicopter video footage of Shasta County Sheriff’s Deputies pursuing Thomas Barbosa. In the top image, Barbosa can be seen passing the Northern California Veteran’s Cemetery in Igo.
Gonzalez terminated the pursuit after Barbosa turned left from Gas Point Road onto Platina Road. The CHP helicopter continued to monitor the situation from above. Sergeant Gonzalez and deputies Van Eyck, Garr, and Fleming then pulled over to debrief. Gonzalez asked Garr and Van Eyck to document their initial involvement with the welfare check while he planned to write up a misdemeanor criminal case for Barbosa’s failure to yield.
Barbosa intentionally wrecks truck
At 1:46 p.m, Barbosa drove his truck off Platina Road near Nono Road. After remining parked for a few minutes, he proceeded to drive off an embankment in what appeared a deliberate move. His truck rolled several times before being lodged on its side against a tree. Other than the CHP helicopter, which Barbosa was likely well aware of, no other law enforcement personnel were on scene. After Barbosa drove off the steep embankment, the helicopter that had been trailing him landed to stop bystanders from approaching the vehicle. This was followed by the arrival of a second helicopter.
Screenshots of the CHP helicopter video footage of Thomas Barbosa when he pulled off the road and after he drove off the embankment.
Upon hearing of Barbosa’s accident, Sergeant Gonzalez directed Deputy Fleming (accompanied by a canine), Van Eyck and Garr to travel with him to the crash site. The four deputies arrived to the scene of the crash at approximately 2:08 p.m. The deputies could not see Barbosa’s truck from the side of the road due to the steepness of the drop-off, as well as brush and trees that blocked their view.
Sergeant Gonzalez announces deputies are heading down hill
At 2:12 p.m, Sergeant Gonzalez announced over the radio that the deputies were heading down the hill to clear Barbosa’s vehicle. Gonzalez later claimed he retrieved his AR-15 weapon from his vehicle because he was heading into an open area and he did not know if Barbosa was armed, or if he was hiding and planned to ambush the deputies. Despite this claim, the CHP air unit had reported that Barbosa did not exit the vehicle. Gonzalez also took first aid supplies in order to provide medical aid.
As the deputies approached Barbosa’s vehicle, Gonzalez was the only one who was armed with a rifle. The other deputies possessed standard-issue equipment, which included sidearms and pepper spray. Fleming also had his canine. The district attorney’s report cited that the deputies possessed tasers when they headed down the hill, but Gonzalez contradicted this statement when he claimed in a Feb. 11 interview that none of the deputies possessed them.
Gonzalez stayed back with his rifle to provide cover as the other three deputies approached the vehicle. Gonzalez circled the vehicle with his rifle drawn as the officers discovered that the best vantage point deputies had into the truck was through the rear window.
Deputy Van Eyck reported to the other deputies that there was a person in the truck. Deputy Fleming recommended using pepper spray, but Sergeant Gonzalez decided against this because he worried about the effect the spray would have if Barbosa was injured.
Deputy Van Eyck then used his baton to break out the back window of the truck in order to get a better view, while Deputy Garr provided cover with his handgun. Fleming also stood nearby with his canine in one hand and pepper spray in the other. After breaking out the window, Van Eyck could see that Barbosa was still alive and was moving. According to the district attorney’s report, for five minutes Van Eyck commanded Barbosa to get out of the truck, but Barbosa did not comply. Deputy Fleming later reported that the noise from the CHP helicopter made it more difficult for the deputies to communicate with Barbosa.
Gonzalez reportedly called on fire personnel to respond with Jaws of Life to help the deputies extract Barbosa from the vehicle. Gonzalez’s plan was to peel back the roof and safely extract Barbosa while holding him at gunpoint.
Deputies discover Barbosa has a knife
After several minutes of Van Eyck and Garr ordering Barbosa to exit his vehicle, Van Eyck noticed that Barbosa had a knife in his hand with a blade that was later reported to be approximately 4-inches long. He reported this to the other deputies as he and Garr backed away from the vehicle. Deputy Fleming then moved closer to the truck with his canine as Gonzalez, still the furthest away, circled around toward the rear.
Sergeant Gonzalez told Barbosa, who was now hunched in the backseat of his truck, that if he attempted to exit the truck with a knife, he would be shot. Deputy Fleming followed this by telling Barbosa he was under arrest. Fleming had also sprayed pepper spray into the vehicle.
Barbosa proceeded to pull the headrest off the driver’s side back seat, presumably in order open a space to crawl out the back window. The deputies reported that Barbosa made a nonverbal growling noise, which they interpreted as aggressive.
Sergeant Gonzalez fires on round at Barbosa in his vehicle
At 2:23 p.m, Gonzalez fired a single shot from his rifle that hit Barbosa as he sat hunched down in the back seat of his truck. Barbosa, according to all of the deputies on the scene, acted as if he was going to exit the vehicle with the knife in his hand. But he never did so.
On Feb. 11, 2020, while accompanied by his attorney Richard Fisher, Gonzalez told SCSO Lt. Logan Stonehouse and Lt. Tom Campbell in a recorded interview obtained by A News Café that Barbosa took an aggressive turn toward the back window, but that he never existed the vehicle.
The aerial CHP video footage released to A News Café clearly shows that Barbosa did not so much as stick his head, an arm, or a leg out the back window of his truck before Gonzalez fired his rifle. In fact, the shot fired by Gonzalez comes as quite a surprise in the CHP video footage.
Screenshots of the CHP helicopter video footage which shows where Sergeant Gonzales (bottom right) and the other deputies were standing when Gonzalez fired a shot Thomas Barbosa (in the back of his truck cab but not visible).
After Gonzalez fired one round, Barbosa collapsed in the back of his truck. The call log shows that Barbosa was reported as being down at 2:24 p.m. Nearly 2 minutes after the shot fired by Gonzalez, Barbosa still sat slumped and lifeless in the back seat of his truck.
Unsure of whether or not Barbosa posed a threat, Fleming released his canine in the hopes it would drag Barbosa clear of the truck. The canine attacked Barbosa’s arms, yanking it through the window for more than 20 seconds. Barbosa did not appear to be resisting, and was most likely on the verge of death, if not already dead. After the canine attack, Deputies Van Eyck and Garr pulled Barbosa from the truck, 2 minutes, 15 seconds after he was shot by Gonzalez.
Barbosa did not appear to be alive when he was pulled from the truck as Van Eyck and Garr threw him face down and handcuffed him. After being handcuffed, Barbosa was dragged several feet away from the truck. While being dragged, Barbosa’s shorts were pulled to his ankles exposing the lower half of his body. Van Eyck and Garr then cut Barbosa’s shirt open but they did not appear to render much — if any — aid.
Van Eyck claimed, while being interviewed by Detective Brian Moore of the Redding Police and SCSO Detective Just Brewer, that Barbosa had a pulse, that they waited for paramedic to arrive to provide aid because he was breathing and that no blood was coming from the entry wound caused by the shot fired by Gonzalez.
Barbosa pronounced dead
As shown by photographs released to A News Café, it appeared as if Barbosa suffered from significant bleeding in the back of his truck. The photographs taken of Barbosa’s deceased body at the scene of his death show that he bled very little at his final resting spot. The coroner’s report said that Barbosa suffered from internal bleeding, a damaged left lung and multiple fractured ribs.
As seen in the CHP aerial footage, the paramedics rendered very little aid to Barbosa after they arrived. The call log shows that he was pronounced deceased at 2:41 p.m.
Gonzalez stood in virtually the same spot, close to where he fired upon Barbosa, for more than 20 minutes as the CHP helicopter circled overhead. Still holding his weapon, Gonzalez stared in the direction of Barbosa’s unclothed, deceased body.
Gonzalez make significant error with estimation of distance
Gonzalez later reported he feared for the safety of Deputy Fleming who was the closest officer to Barbosa. Gonzalez initially said that Fleming was 10- to 12-feet from the exit point of the truck. It would later be discovered and reported by the SCSO that Fleming was actually 22 feet from the truck when Gonzalez fired at Barbosa. Garr was 26-feet away, Van Eyck was 29-feet away and the distance between Gonzalez and the truck was 27-feet.
Image from the investigation into the killing of Thomas Barbosa which shows where each deputy was standing and how far away they were from the wrecked truck.
While it is not official SCSO department policy, Gonzalez violated the 21-foot standard which states that someone with a knife running toward a law enforcement official can cover about 21 feet before an officer can unholster their gun and fire. In other words, at 22 feet it is probable that Fleming was not in serious danger. He certainly did not appear threatened in the CHP aerial footage.
Gonzalez addressed the 21-foot rule in his interview with Stonehouse and Campbell.
“The general rule that I’ve worked under most of my career is to try to keep people with knives outside of that 21-foot rule. Once they break that 21-foot barrier, they become a high potential threat.”
Alarming issues highlighted by Barbosa killing
The killing of Thomas Barbosa highlights several alarming issues. The most important fact is that Barbosa was killed without exiting his truck. Furthermore, considering his condition after wrecking his truck, it is probable that Barbosa would have struggled to exit the small back window. As it was, Garr and Van Eyck struggled to pull Barboza through the back window. In addition, it was clear that Barbosa was in desperate need of mental health assistance for some months before his death, and the SCSO offered no help in this regard. In his interview with Stonehouse and Campbell, Gonzalez described the numerous training sessions he has attended to use firearms. However, there was no mention of training to deal with those suffering from a mental health crisis. Gonzalez was well aware of Barbosa’s PTSD, and mental-health issues.
Non-lethal option?
The deputies who approached Barbosa did not possess enough non-lethal options. In his interview with Stonehouse and Campbell, Gonzalez claimed that none of the deputies had tasers, and that if they did possess them, they would not have been able to get close enough to use them. This was said, despite the fact that they could have used the roof of the truck as a protective shield. Gonzalez said that the deputies would have needed to get within 10 feet of the truck to successfully deploy a taser, yet he also claimed, at least initially, that he fired a shot at Barbosa because Fleming was in a dangerous position about 10 feet from the truck, later reported as actually 22 feet.
Gonzalez’s claim that he did not have time to explore other non-lethal options, including the bean bag gun in his patrol car, is unacceptable and violates AB392, a bill regarding police-use-of-force standards signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019. Gonzalez claimed that he chose the AR-15 over the bean bag gun because it would allow him to make a precision shot, to be able to take a longer shot, and to be able to fire a shot through glass or a door.
Left: Sergeant Jose Gonzalez receiving Sergeant of the Year Award in 2018; Right: Gonzalez discussing law enforcement tactics at a recent civic event.
Unbiased investigation?
A non-law enforcement entity in Shasta County needs to be involved in the investigation of law enforcement-involved killings in the county. Fleming, Van Eyck and Garr, especially, were treated by the SCSO and Redding Police investigators in a friendly manner when they were questioned by investigators.
After Barbosa was killed, Detective Aaron Hollemon, a Redding Police officer investigating the case, told Lupita Barbosa that the job of the law enforcement officials investigating the case was to take an unbiased approach.
Judging by the conversation investigators had with the deputies involved, this certainly did not seem to be the case.
A roadside memorial where Thomas Barbosa was killed and photographs taken at his funeral. Source: Facebook
Lupita Barbosa asked Hollemon “what happened,” in a telephone conversation the day after her husband was killed.
“He wasn’t listening. He wasn’t following their commands. He had a fixed blade knife with him, um, and they tried to negotiate him out of the truck, and use some less lethal options, um, but he was refusing commands, he refused to drop the knife, and a Shasta County Sheriff’s officer fired one round from his rifle, striking him. And then they attempted to…they got him out of the truck…they got him…they attempted to do medical aid…ahhh…we called for medical personnel to come help Thomas, um, but unfortunately he was pronounced deceased there at the scene.”
Lupita Barbosa responded by asking if her husband was inside his vehicle when he was shot. Despite just admitting that Barbosa was inside his truck when he was shot, Holleman stated that he did not have that information.
“That I’m not… I don’t have that information. I don’t have details on that, but they were trying to get his cooperation and giving him commands, and from what I understand he wasn’t listening or he wasn’t…he wasn’t…he was refusing the commands or ignoring them. I don’t know if he was inside the truck when he was struck with the round. I don’t have that detail.”
Beloved Thomas Andrew Barbosa
A GoFundMe page — now inactive — was created following Barbosa’s death to raise money for his casket and funeral costs.
The page’s organizer wrote this beneath Barboza’s photo:
“Thomas Barbosa was a beloved husband, father, brother, uncle, son, and more. As you may know less than a week ago on Feb 4, 2020 Tom was taken from us unexpectedly. He served his country and toured Iraq, but he returned with PTSD. We are all confused and hurt. There are many questions we have and many answers we want but first Tom needs to be at peace. We are trying to raise $7,000 for Toms’ casket, and burial. His military benefits will cover part of the funeral costs but not all …”
After a memorial service attended by family and friends, Thomas Barbosa was buried at the Northern California Veteran’s Cemetery in Igo, a location he passed in his truck during the pursuit.
His grave stone reads: “Loving husband and daddy, siempre por la vida” (always and for life).
Thomas Barbosa’s grave stone at the Northern California Veteran’s Cemetery in Igo.
Note: this article has been edited to correct the statement by Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett.
