VISALIA (KMJ) — A suspect is dead after an officer involved shooting in Visalia. Franklin Donald Oden was confirmed deceased by Police Chief Jason Salazar Tuesday evening.
The events which led up to his death began early that morning, after Visalia Police responded to an address near Houston Avenue and Ben Maddox Way around 3am. What was described as a family disturbance, ended with a shot being fired and the suspect fleeing. That man was identified as Franklin Oden.
“Oden was also at that time determined to be on state parole for charges of assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence out of Kern County,” explains Chief Salazar.
Later that day the same suspect was identified as the man who ran from an officer during a vehicle traffic stop for an expired registration. That took place approximately 1.35pm near Giddings Street and Howard Avenue.
“At that point based on the traffic violation, he initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle for the expired registration and the vehicle pulled over the side of the road”, explains Chief Salazar.
“He observed that the vehicle was being driven by a female driver and was occupied by one male passenger. As the vehicle pulled over to yield to the officer, the male passenger immediately jumped out of the vehicle and at that the time the officer who initiated the traffic stop observed that the suspect was in possession of a handgun that he brandished towards the officer.”
The officer gave chase and radioed the information to dispatch. That prompted a second officer to get involved.
“[He] observed that the suspect had a handgun in his hand, and the officer then got out of his car and began yelling commands at the suspect to stop. At that point the suspect proceeded to fire two rounds at the officer. He did not strike the officer.
“The officer immediately returned fire striking the suspect once in the torso,” added Chief Salazar.
Franklin Oden was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead later that day. Neither of the two Visalia PD officers were injured. Both are now on paid administrative leave.
“As is standard in these type of incidents I’ve reached out to Sheriff Mike Boudreaux from the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office and requested their assistance in conducting an independent criminal investigation into this matter that will ultimately be submitted to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office for their review related to the use of deadly force.”
A parallel investigation conducted by Visalia Police is also underway to establish whether the officers’ actions were within policy.
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
