Vallejo police release video of July 20 shootout that killed suspect

VALLEJO – Vallejo police shot and killed a man during a 30-second exchange of gunfire on July 20, according to footage shown by the Vallejo Police Department in a town hall meeting on Monday night. 

Around 40 community members attended the town hall meeting at Griffin Academy Middle and High School in South Vallejo. Vallejo Police Chief Jason Ta, Deputy Chief Robert Knight, Capt. Jeremy Huff and spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis led Monday’s town hall. 

The school is down the street from the intersection of Mahogany Drive and Broadway Street, a cul-de-sac where 44-year-old Rommel Delfin Querol stopped the car and opened fire on officers with an AR-15 ghost gun before officers shot and killed him.

The shooting was the first fatal police shooting involving Vallejo police in six years. 

Knight said that the two officers involved in the incident were Officer Himanshu Saini and Sgt. Matthew Komoda. Komoda was one of the officers named in the department’s badge bending scandal, when officers bent the tips of their star-shaped badges to mark shootings, but investigators found he was a “victim” of the practice after he testified that former police Lt. Kent Tribble bent his badge and he later bent it back. The shooting was Komoda’s fifth as a Vallejo police officer.

Neither officers were injured in the July 20 shooting, Knight said, and both are on administrative leave while the Solano County District Attorney’s Major Crime Task Force conducts an investigation of the incident. 

Knight said that there was also a passenger in Querol’s car who was taken into custody, but did not release their identity.  

“This case is still in its early stages and is being conducted by another criminal investigative agency. Therefore, we are only able to share details that are confirmed and suitable for release at this time,” Knight said. “However, this town hall represents our department's commitment to maximum transparency.”

According to audio recordings of 911 played during the meeting, a man called the department at 12:19 p.m. to report that a man had just held him at gunpoint and stolen his car, a silver 2011 Honda Accord. The caller, who was sitting in his car, said that a man approached him asking for a lighter, but appeared to walk away when he said he didn’t have one. 

“Then all of a sudden he came back, tapped on the glass, and he pulled out a huge gun out of his bag, like an assault rifle,” said the caller, according to the recording. “He’s like, ‘Get the fuck out of the car right now. Leave everything in your car, everything out of your pocket.’”

According to Knight, the department used Flock cameras to scan for the Honda’s license plate, and the system alerted them at about 1:15 p.m. that the carjacked vehicle was traveling in North Vallejo. 

Knight said that Saini was driving on Broadway Street when he spotted the car with two occupants inside — Querol and the unidentified passenger. Saini followed the car as it turned into Mahogany Drive. 

Saini’s dashcam footage shows that Querol drove to the end of the street, but then was blocked in on all sides by parked vehicles, with Saini’s patrol car behind him. 

The footage shows a bystander wander up to the car on the passenger side, and then run away after looking inside. 

As Saini steps out, his bodycam footage shows that Querol opens fire, shooting from the driver's seat out of the rear windshield of the Honda. Saini ducks back into the patrol car, immediately firing a full magazine towards Querol and the Honda through his patrol car’s windshield. He reloads the gun and steps out of the patrol car to crouch behind a parked vehicle.

Komoda, meanwhile, arrived as Querol and Saini exchanged gunfire. Komoda’s bodycam footage shows him park behind Saini and run to the right side of Saini’s vehicle. They both then open fire on Querol and the Honda. 

In bodycam footage, a voice can be heard shouting what sounds like “Stop!” repeatedly. Querol attempted to drive the car forward and to the right, crashing into a fence and another parked vehicle. 

The officers opened fire again; it’s unclear from the footage if Querol or the passenger shot back. 

Knight told the attendees at the town hall that the officers were initially not able to render aid to Querol because the scene was unsecured and the driver’s side of the car was wedged up against a parked car. Knight said Querol was removed from the vehicle after several minutes and the officers began first aid. 

When paramedics arrived, they pronounced Querol dead at the scene.

Knight said that Querol had a criminal history, with two separate felony convictions for burglary and three felony convictions for possession of a firearm, among others. In 2011, Querol was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and personal use of a firearm and sentenced to 16 years in prison, according to the Vallejo Times-Herald. 

Knight showed several photos from the scene, including markers of recovered cartridge casings from both Querol’s assault rifle and the officers’ handguns. According to the markers shown to the audience, Saini shot at least eight times, while Querol shot at least nine times. 

Following the presentation, Hollis opened up the floor for community comments and questions. No one spoke up. After a brief pause, Hollis ended the meeting. 

Hollis said this is the fourth town hall that the department has held. In 2020, the department entered into agreement with the California Department of Justice to update their use-of-force procedures, anti-bias training, and critical incident review, in order to regain public trust following years of allegations of misconduct. In 2023, the California Department of Justice sued the department to compel it to institute 45 policy recommendations, after seeing years of little progress on the reforms. 

“That was a lot of information to take in, and I think people were just playing back all that information they saw,” city Councilmember Diosdado “J.R.” Matulac said after the brief question portion. 

He added that he thought this presentation was an improvement over the last town hall he attended, for the 2023 shooting of Jamazea Kittell. “Hopefully this is able to speak to the importance of transparency and getting the community engaged,” Matulac said.

Resident Liat Meitzenheimer agreed, saying that as difficult as it is, it’s important that the community continues to attend these meetings to learn about incidents and how the Vallejo Police Department handles them.

“It’s sad to watch anytime somebody loses their life,” said Meitzenheimer. “But I think it’s important to be here and be present, especially if we’re pushing for the police accountability commission.”