Newly released body-covered camera footage shows the moment Orange County police shot and killed a 45-year-old murder suspect driving on a pier in Newport Beach.
The February 1st incident unfolded when authorities with the Santa Ana Police Department received a 911 call from a dispatch operator with the Menifie Police Department regarding the suspect, currently identified as Jose Alfonso Vallasquez.
Menifee detectives tracked the 45-year-old cell phone down to the 1400 block of North Freeman Street. The dispatch operator then informed SAPD that Velazquez was being sought after for the fatal shooting of a woman who may have been his girlfriend in the menifesto, and he was likely behind the wheels of a silver Honda CRV.
After 6:30am, two SAPD officers responded to the location and discovered the CRV of Velázquez, where they sat with passengers in the car.
“As the officers approached, subjects quickly fled the area and urged them to pursue,” SAPD officials said in a video posted online.
The 45-year-old chased Newport Beach on a 13-mile chase, where he jumped over the curb and piloted around several barricades set up to prevent vehicles from boarding the pier.
Police followed Velazquez to the pier where people scrambled out of the way of the vehicles. At the end of the pier, the 45-year-old stopped and reportedly left the CRV.
In footage released by SAPD, the corresponding officers of two police cruisers stopped just behind the suspect and fired at him.
A 45-year-old murder suspect was shot dead after leading police in a chase that ended on February 1, 2025 at Newport Beach Pier. Newport Beach Pier on February 1st, 2025. (SAPD) A 45-year-old murder suspect was shot dead after leading police in a chase that ended at Newport Beach Pier on February 1, 2025. A murder suspect was shot dead after leading police in a chase that ended on February 1, 2025 at Newport Beach Pier. 2025. (SAPD) A 45-year-old murder suspect was shot dead after leading police in a chase that ended on February 1, 2025 at Newport Beach Pier. (SAPD)
Video footage of an Orange County Sheriff’s Department helicopter shows a 45-year-old man looking like a gun in his right hand on the ground beside the vehicle. Police said Velazquez was still on the ground, breathing armed, but he was unable to comply with the officer’s orders.
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“Given the ongoing threat posed by suspects who did not respond to the officer’s oral orders, a 40mm low-fatal launcher was deployed,” SAPD officials said. “After the deployment, police K9 was used to promote officers handcuffing and arresting suspects.”
Medical workers at the Newport Beach Fire Department arrived at the location and declared Velázquez dead at the scene.
The firearm believed to be used in the suspect’s Menifee murder was recovered at the scene.
The 45-year-old was previously arrested for driving under the influence, driving with a suspended license and swinging a firearm in a threatening manner, police said.
Research into the fatal use of force continues.
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