Whitehall police release body cam footage of police shooting, name of man killed
Bailey GallionWhitehall police released body cam footage of a Friday morning police shooting and identified the man killed and the driver of the vehicle, who appeared Saturday in a Franklin County court.
Santiago Elias Alfaro Munoz, 36, died in the shooting, according to a news release.
William Morales Villatoro, 36, faces a charge of improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony. The investigating officers, who have not been identified, allege they found a green 9 mm Taurus handgun between the passenger seat and the center console of the car, according to court records.
Morales Villatoro appeared Saturday morning in Franklin County Municipal Court, where online records indicated he was released on his own recognizance. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for May 3.
The two unidentified officers were involved in an unrelated traffic stop, when they heard nearby gunfire about 2 a.m. A minute later, the department's gunshot detection system also alerted them to a shooting.
Whitehall police said the officers went to Roses Discount Store's parking lot in the 4600 block of East Main Street, near South Hamilton Road. They came across two vehicles, one of which had left and a second silver Honda Pilot SUV. The officers checked on the two men inside.
In the first body cam video, an officer approached the driver’s side of the SUV and shined a flashlight through the window. A man on the driver’s side rolled the window down and told the officer in Spanish that he didn't speak English. There was another man in the passenger seat.
The man in the driver’s seat, later identified as Morales Villatoro, continued eating an order of French fries. The officers asked in Spanish if the men had a gun or drugs, and both said "no."
The officer on the driver’s side of the vehicle shined his flashlight into the backseat and said, “33,” a police radio code for a gun. The officer at the passenger side of the vehicle can be heard saying “hands up” in Spanish and English as the driver got out of his side of the SUV and the officer placed him in handcuffs.
The video from the passenger side of the vehicle showed a man sitting in the passenger seat, later identified as Alfaro Munoz, with the window rolled halfway down. The man was holding a box of chicken nuggets.
After the other officer alerted him to the gun, the officer at the passenger side door told the man in the passenger seat several times to put his hands in the air. The man does not move and says, “Huh?”
When the officer opened the car door, the passenger turned, then turned quickly again to face the officer. Whitehall police allege Alfaro Munoz reached for a gun.
Both officers opened fire into the SUV as they backed away from the vehicle. The handcuffed driver remained face down, handcuffed on the pavement.
The officer at the passenger side of the car continued to shout “hands up” in English and Spanish and can be heard saying he couldn't tell whether any of his shots hit the passenger.
Medics took Alfaro Munoz to Mount Carmel East Hospital, where he later died. Whitehall police have turned the investigation into the shooting to the Ohio Attorney General's Office's Bureau of Investigation.
Police have not disclosed the identities of the officers involved in the shooting or whether they have been placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Dispatch reporter Bethany Bruner contributed to this report.