FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2017 ENTERPRISE-RECORD+MERCURY-REGISTER | NEWS A

|5
Shooting
FROM PAGE 1
The stun gun, however, was
only partially effective, and
Phillips “quickly” got up,
surprising officers.
One officer, Fliehr, said
Phillips then “advanced”
on him holding what he be-
lieved was a knife in each
hand.
The other officer, Gag-
nebin, said he saw Phil-
lips holding in one hand
a “sharpened stick with
a shiny metal point” that
Phillips picked up from the
apartment floor.
The officers said Phillips
was making stabbing mo-
tions at them.
Investigators found the
officers fired a total of 16
shots at Phillips, striking
him 10 times. Ramsey said
the duration from when
Phillips was hit with a Taser
to when officers opened fire
was about eight seconds.
Once Phillips was down,
an officer at the scene said
he found “clutched” in Phil-
lips’ right hand a splintered
piece of a wooden door-
jamb, which broke off the
front door police kicked in
to get inside the apartment.
Two kitchen knives also
were found at the scene.
“The weight of the evi-
dence produced in this in-
vestigation points to the
conclusion that the involved
officers performed consis-
tent with their training and
experience when faced with
lethal force,” Ramsey said.
“A knife attack is a lethal
attack.”
Ramsey presented the
findings of the investiga-
tion at a roughly two-hour
news conference, which in-
cluded 9-1-1 calls, police ra-
dio traffic, digital models
of the shooting scene and a
Taser demonstration.
Phillips’ father, David
Phillips Sr., first called 9-1-1
about 7:13 p.m. March 17, re-
questing an ambulance for
his son, who he said was
about to have an “episode.”
In the call, David Phil-
lips said law enforcement
wasn’t needed.
Medics and firefighters
arrived at the apartment
about 7:18 p.m. and found
Desmond Phillips danc-
ing in the living room in
a “trance-like state” and
wearing headphones and
sunglasses, according to
Ramsey. Desmond Phil-
lips also had a video game
controller in his hands, but
no game was playing on a
nearby TV.
David Phillips is said to
have told medics that his
son had been in that state
for about two hours, add-
ing that Desmond Phil-
lips suffered brain trauma
from a physical assault in
2016 and was recently diag-
nosed with post-traumatic
stress disorder.
Medics removed Des-
mond Phillips’ sunglasses
and headphones, finding
that his eyes were shut, ac-
cording to Ramsey. When
medics tried to touch him,
he “suddenly became an-
imated with punches and
swings of his arms and
hands.”
Medics backed away but
initially remained inside
the apartment, speaking
with the father, according
to Ramsey. David Phillips
is said to have told medics
that his son had become
violent during past similar
episodes.
Medics and firefighters
began to leave the apart-
Online: Listen to 9-1-1
recordings and read
the district attorney’s report
on the incident attached to
this story at WWW.CHICOER.
COM .
Ramsey. Officers around
that time tried to get stun
guns situated at the front
and rear of the apartment.
At 7:32 p.m., David Phil-
lips makes his third call to
9-1-1. The call opens with
David Phillips stating his
son had just tried to stab
him. He goes on to tell dis-
patchers he’s locked in one
room, and two of his grand-
children are locked in a sep-
arate room.
A dispatcher asks David
Phillips if he and his grand-
children can exit the apart-
ment. He says no.
During the call, David
Phillips can be heard plead-
ing with his son to “stop.”
He says he’s trying to get
his son some help. “He’s
my son, I love him,” he says.
Pounding can be heard on
the tape, and David Phillips
says his son is trying kick
his door in.
David Phillips becomes
increasingly distressed as
the situation unfolds. At one
point during the call he can
be heard saying, “He’s try-
ing to stab me now. Come
through the window.”
Meanwhile, officers out-
side also heard banging
coming from the apart-
ment, according to Ramsey,
and they prepared to break
into the home while receiv-
ing updates from dispatch-
ers about the unfolding sit-
uation inside.
About two minutes af-
ter David Phillips called
9-1-1 for help, three offi-
cers staged at the front of
the home — Fliehr, Gag-
nebin and Jarrod Cumber
— moved to get inside the
apartment, according to
Ramsey.
Fliehr kicked open the
wooden front door, and
“officers were surprised
to see Desmond immedi-
ately at the door’s thresh-
old just to the inside” and
to the right of the door-
way, according to Ramsey.
Officers outside reported
seeing Desmond Phillips
wielding either a knife in
each hand or a knife in one
hand, “depending on their
vantage point.”
Cumber shot his Taser
at Desmond Phillips,
which initially worked as
intended, according to
Ramsey. Desmond Phillips’
body locked up and fell to
the ground between a couch
and a wall near the door-
way.
Fliehr and Gagnebin
then entered the apartment
through the front door, in-
tending to handcuff the
25-year-old, according to
Ramsey. While assessing
the situation, Desmond
Phillips “unlocked” and
quickly rose to his feet, sur-
prising the officers.
According to Ramsey,
that’s when Desmond Phil-
lips “rapidly and aggres-
sively advanced on officers
Gagnebin and Fliehr swing-
ing his arms in a windmill
DAILY COUPON
Get back more than the price
of this newspaper when you
redeem the daily coupon.
Watch for a new coupon in
this space daily!
or go to:
coupons.chicoer.com
Dam
requires that the team
members are indepen-
dent of the state water
FROM PAGE 1 agency. To help assemble,
the team, DWR reached
work has not yet been out to the United States
completed. The firm that Society of Dams, www.
is hired will start work ussdams.org and the As-
Monday. sociation of State Dam
DW R’s ch ie f en g i- Safety Officials, w w w.
neer Jeanne Kuttel said damsafet y.org, Kut tel
even without actual de- said.
sign plans, the company The team did inspec-
hired will have plenty tions of the site Thursday
to do. Work will begin and plans to head to Sac-
on a detailed schedule. ramento Friday to look at
BILL HUSA — ENTERPRISE-RECORD Equipment can begin to records on the dam, she
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey holds the be moved into the area. said.
knives that Phillips allegedly wielded during the March 17 Work areas can be as- Butte County Sheriff
incident. sessed, security details Kory Honea attended a
can be made and haul meeting with the inves-
fashion as he ran towards have returned to “full duty.” routes mapped. Concrete tigation team after the
them.” O’Brien said that deci- and other raw materials press conference. He said
Fliehr fired nine shots. sion was based on the dis- can also be moved into he was impressed by the
Gagnebin fired seven. Des- trict attorney’s investigation the area, she explained. credentials of those in
mond Phillips was hit 10 and the Police Department’s Croyle said the quick the group, and has con-
times and dropped near a own review. pace is important. Nor- fidence they will work
kitchen counter. “This is a tragedy,” mally a project of this hard to find answers.
The final moments of O’Brien said, adding, “A size would take years
Desmond Phillip’s con- tragedy for the Phillips fam- just for the planning. Community
frontation with police were ily, a tragedy for the commu- “We need hours and days outreach
captured on David Phillips’ nity and a tragedy for this for approval vs. weeks,
open 9-1-1 call. Police Department.” months and years,” he This week Croyle an-
“Did you hit him with In remarks delivered said. Rather than have nounced the first of sev-
a Taser?” David Phillips, at the news conference, paperwork shuff le back eral planned commu-
clearly distraught, can be O’Brien said efforts to re- and for th, staf f from nity outreach meetings,
heard saying, adding, “Man, solve the March 17 encoun- agencies will meet to- which will be held at 5
I told you he was mental. ter through communication gether, Croyle said. p.m. April 27 in Gridley
Did you kill my son?” failed when the “dynamics at the Butte County Fair-
The Phillips family has suddenly changed.” Hyatt Powerplant grounds. The format will
expressed deep distrust in “Officers were asked to A complicated system be “open house,” where
the investigation, saying stop someone, Desmond of power poles connects people can talk w ith
Ramsey has a conflict of in- Phillips, who had now be- Lake Oroville to other ar- DWR and ask questions.
terest in the case. come a deadly threat,” he eas of the state. When the Other meetings are
David Phillips, in an in- said. “A deadly threat to chil- spillway failed, several of pla nned in Orov i lle,
terview this week, recalled dren, a father and ultimately those power connections Mar ysville, Yuba City,
the night of the shooting, to those officers. The request were relocated. To finish Chico and Sacramento,
saying he exited his bed- and need for immediate ac- the job, the “physical tie- but dates have not yet
room and saw an officer tion was made clear.” in to the power plant,” is been set.
shoot his son as he was fall- The police chief noted scheduled to be rebuilt
ing from a Taser strike. officers first tried to use a once water stops f low- Secret documents
He said his son didn’t “less lethal” option when ing through the turbines In the past week, state
have anything in his hands, they tased Desmond Phil- at Hyatt Powerhouse next Sen. Jim Nielsen and As-
and he called for murder lips. week. semblyman James Galla-
charges to brought against “Unfortunately, technol- After the work is done, gher have called for the
the officers. ogy is not foolproof, and the water will be increased end to secrecy regard-
During the conference Taser did not have the full through the plant to ing documents related
Thursday, Ramsey said Da- and desired effect,” he said. 6,000 cfs, which is half to the dam and spillway
vid Phillips has declined to “That is a tragic reality.” the capacity of the plant, problems. At the press
be interviewed by investi- Regarding the topic of he explained. conference T hursday,
gators. mental illness, the police April 22, one of the Croyle said DWR is go-
While going over a digital chief said current responses penstocks bringing wa- ing through those docu-
reconstruction of the shoot- are “inadequate.” He said he ter to the power plant ments with plans to re-
ing scene, Ramsey acknowl- is committed to advanced will be shut down for lease items that are not
edged David Phillips’ state- officer training, as well as four to five weeks to necessary to keep confi-
ments, and said computer crisis intervention training. “tune up the system for dential.
images have “somewhat val- But he also said “we can- a much longer run this In response, state Sen.
idated David Phillips’ point not wait for mental health summer, at full capacity,” Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber,
of view but not his conclu- intervention when weapons Croyle explained. and Assemblyman James
sion of ‘murder.’” are involved, other lives are That will include reg- Gallagher, R-Yuba City,
Citing David Phillips’ threatened and those in cri- ular maintenance and issued a joint statement
last 9-1-1 call, Ramsey said sis are nonresponsive and vi- preparations to replace that they were “encour-
it sounds as if David Phil- olent.” turbine one, which has aged” by Croyle’s com-
lips began to come out of Intervention must occur, been out of service a cou- ments.
his locked bedroom and into he said, before then. ple of years. “We heard loud and
a hallway as police entered The police chief said a Tracking down prob- clear the frustrations
the apartment. meeting of his Police Com- lems from our constituents
“David Phillips in this munity Advisory Board will T hu r sd ay w a s t he with regards to the need
scenario would have seen discuss mental health issues first day at the dam for for transparency in what
his son, already griev- at 5:30 p.m. May 17 at the old a team of “forensic in- occurred at Oroville and
ously wounded, begin to Municipal Building. vestigators” who will de- the planned repairs. It
come into view at the en- “I want this to be the cat- termine the cause of the is understandable that
trance of the hallway as he alyst for the difficult discus- failure of the spillway at some highly sensitive,
fell forward,” according to sions that will need to oc- Lake Oroville, and de- verifiable information
Ramsey. “He would have cur regarding this issue,” termine whether failure should be withheld for
also most likely seen officer O’Brien said. “Eventually could happen again. legitimate national se-
Fliehr, who had been forced involving all the stakehold- Feb. 13, the Federal curity purposes — but
to retreat to that same en- ers in this field. Ultimately, Emergency Regulator y blocking entire reports
trance to the hallway, fire the goal will be the identifi- Commission sent a let- and requests for infor-
his gun at the then falling cation of tangible and com- ter to DWR calling for mation is unacceptable.”
Desmond.” prehensive changes that an independent review
Ramsey said he remains will better server those with of what went wrong. Contact reporter
open to speaking with David mental illness, our commu- DW R engineer Kut- Heather Hacking at
Phillips regarding his son’s nities and our police depart- tel explained that FERC 896-7758.
fatal encounter with police. ments.”
Chico Police Chief Mike
O’Brien said Thursday that Contact reporter Andre
officers Fliehr and Gagnebin Byik at 896-7760.
www.ChicoER.com
Facebook: facebook.com/ChicoER
Twitter: @ChicoER
Customer Service...............................879.7888
Paradise and Magalia area office ............................................... 877.7210
Hours: 6:30a.m. to 5p.m. Monday-Friday; 7-11a.m. Saturday, Sunday.
Online: Manage your subscription at www.ChicoER.com.
Newsroom ............................................ 891.1234
Publisher
Jim Gleim....................jgleim@bayareanewsgroup.com, 707.453.8189
Advertising Director Human Resources
Fred Crosthwaite.......... 896.7751 Maureen Garrity............896.7752
fcrosthwaite@chicoer.com mgarrity@chicoer.com
General Manager Editor

Saving you money everyday!

ment when they saw Des-
mond Phillips sweeping
items off a kitchen coun-
ter, according to Ramsey.
Firefighters closed a metal
screen door behind them
Mazi Kavoosi ................. 896.7719 David Little ....................896.7793
mkavoosi@chicoer.com dlittle@chicoer.com
News+Features: Steve Schoonover.... news@chicoer.com, 896.7750
★ ★ COUPON ★ ★
Free $1 oFF Sports Desk ..........................................sports@chicoer.com, 896.7779

and called for police to re-
spond about 7:24 p.m.
At 7:29 p.m., David Phil-
lips made a second 9-1-1 call.
In the call, he tells dispatch-
ers that his son is “mental”
and walking around with a
knife. He requests that law
enforcement respond, and
he can be heard tending to
his son.
Around the same time,
according to Ramsey, of-
ficers that had already re-
breakFast burrito
with the purchase of a breakfast burrito*
Choose from
Meat Lovers • Grande Sausage
Of equal or greater value. Coupon valid through
May 31, 2017 at all participating Jack in the Box®
restaurants. One coupon per guest, per visit. One offer
per coupon. No duplicate coupons accepted. Not valid
718 with any other offer. ©2016 Jack in the Box Inc.
ultimate
breakFast
sandwiCh
Coupon valid through May 31, 2017 at all
participating Jack in the Box® restaurants. One coupon
per guest, per visit. One offer per coupon. No duplicate
coupons accepted. Not valid with any other offer. ©2016
Jack in the Box Inc.
Office......................................... 400 E. Park Ave., Chico, CA 95926
Subscription rates
7 day All Access subscription: $10.99 per week plus tax.
Chico Enterprise-Record is a MediaNews Group Newspaper
published daily and Sundays. (USPS 104-200) (ISSN 0746-
5548) Periodical postage paid at the U.S. Post Office at Chico,
CA under the Act of Congress adjudicated a newspaper of
general circulation by a court decree No. 26,796. Publication
No. 104200. Member of the California Newspaper Publishers
Association and the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Postmaster:
Please send address changes to P.O. Box 9, Chico, CA 95927-
9998.
Home Delivery Subscription Terms & Conditions: The
subscription to the Enterprise-Record is a continuous
283 subscription for as long as the service is offered. You will be
billed at the interval you have selected, which shall be your Billing

sponded to the scene spot-
ted Desmond Phillips hold-
ing two knives and asked
for backup. As police dis-
cussed their plan of action
and maneuver around the
apartment, officers at the
front door tried talking to
Desmond Phillips, asking
him to put down his knives.
Shortly thereafter, Des-
mond Phillips shut the
front door, blocking the of-
ficers’ view of what was go-
ing on inside, according to
2 For $6
2 For $5
Term. You may cancel by calling Customer Service at 530-879-
7888. You must cancel before the end of your Billing Term. No
Plus tax Plus tax
unused portion of a Billing Term will be refunded. No credit is
ultimate SourdouGh offered for vacation service interruptions. Future prices are
CheeSeburGerS™ JaCk® burGerS subject to change. All home delivery subscriptions will include
the Thanksgiving Day special edition which will be charged at
the normal Thursday rate plus $3.00. If Thursday delivery is not
part of the subscription package, the Thanksgiving edition will
be included at the cost of $3.00. All home delivery subscriptions
will include no more than five additional special editions annually,
that will be charged at the normal Sunday rate plus $3.00, which
will be charged to the subscriber’s account. To opt out of any
Coupon valid through May 31, 2017 at all Coupon valid through May 31, 2017 at all special editions, please contact customer service at 530-879-
participating Jack in the Box® restaurants. One coupon participating Jack in the Box® restaurants. One coupon
7888. Receiving these special editions will cause your selected
per guest, per visit. One offer per coupon. No duplicate per guest, per visit. One offer per coupon. No duplicate billing term to expire sooner. Digital online content is not subject
coupons accepted. Not valid with any other offer. ©2016 coupons accepted. Not valid with any other offer. ©2016 to California sales tax. The sale of printed newspapers is subject
496 Jack in the Box Inc. Jack in the Box Inc.
747 to sales tax reimbursement per Cal. Code Regs., tit. 18, § 1590(b)
(1)