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Woman Shot By Off-Duty Cop Still Refuses To Talk
POSTED: 9:07 pm PDT March 24, 2008
UPDATED: 9:39 pm PDT March 24, 2008
OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- 10News is learning more about the off-duty officer-involved shooting in Oceanside that happened over a week ago, in a Lowe's parking lot.Since then, little information has been released by officials.10News Digital Correspondent Evy Ramos reports many people in the community have questioned the timeliness of the information released about the shooting.Monday, Oceanside police said they are treating the case as they would any other.Nine days after off-duty San Diego police officer Franklin White shot and injured 27-year-old Rachel Silva and her 8-year-old son, investigators are finally releasing new information about the case.But, investigators said, one key piece is still missing: Silva's statement.“Part of what we were attempting to do was to interview her. Obviously, in her condition, she wasn't in a condition to be interviewed immediately,” said Lt. Fred Armijo of the Oceanside Police department.But once she was well enough to be interviewed, Silva hired attorney John Phillips and refused to give a statement.“It's very important for us to get statements from all parties involved, both sides, so that we have a clear and accurate picture as to what happened. So, those were a couple of the initial delays that we had to work with,” said Armijo.But Oceanside police officials said they can still finish their investigation without Silva's statement.“It can be difficult although it’s not impossible. What is important, now, is for us to conduct a more thorough analysis of the physical evidence that we do have,” Armijo said.Some of the evidence includes 911 calls made by both Silva and White's wife, who was in his car at the time of the incident.Surveillance video from a nearby Shell gas station is also being analyzed and investigators said they are awaiting toxicology reports.Police said those pieces of evidence are crucial, especially given what they are missing.“Especially, when you run into a situation when you have one party giving a statement and the other party not, it can be difficult to get a clear picture without that kind of analysis,” Armijo said.Police officials said it is important to note that giving a statement is not required by law, and Oceanside police do not know whether Silva will ever give a statement.But, they said they are prepared to finish the investigation either way.
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