Parolee Shot by Police Defended
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LA HABRA — A girlfriend riding with the 29-year-old parolee from Yorba Linda who was shot and killed at a gas station by undercover officers this week claimed Wednesday the man was no threat to police.
“It’s not right that he should have died like this,” said Tina Arbogast, 29, of Garden Grove, who said she was inside paying for gas when she heard police open fire on Michael Kunzweiler. “Somebody panicked.”
But La Habra Police Capt. John Rees said Kunzweiler “floored his vehicle and accelerated into a police car behind him” when confronted by three Anaheim undercover officers.
Rees said police did not find a gun in Kunzweiler’s Ford 4x4 pickup.
The officers had been following Kunzweiler, whose record includes arrests for burglary, theft and assault, in connection with a crime that occurred over the weekend. Anaheim police would not elaborate on the nature of the investigation.
The surveillance led to the La Habra gas station, where three police units surrounded Kunzweiler’s truck. Three officers drew their guns and ordered Kunzweiler to surrender.
He rammed into at least one of the police cars, Rees said, and police fired five or six shots.
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