SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (CN) — An attorney who failed to secure firearms stored in his law office is responsible for a shooting spree that left one man dead and a deputy sheriff severely wounded with a shot to the face, claims a lawsuit made available Tuesday in San Luis Obispo Superior Court.
In a case that mirrors current gun debates, the suit also claims members of the Paso Robles Police Department failed to confront an active shooter who represented a risk to the community despite outnumbering him.
Lack of supervision and proper training at the department caused a “failure to meet their obligations to the community,” according to the wrongful death and personal injury complaint filed by attorney John Barron, who shares a practice with James Murphy.
Barron filed the complaint on behalf of Johnny Watson, whose father James Watson was shot and killed by the gunman, Mason Lira, 26. Other plaintiffs include the deputy sheriff Nicholas Dreyfus and his spouse.
The suit names Robert Bettencourt, a San Luis Obispo attorney and former police officer, as the defendant and suggests that the Paso Robles Police Department will be named defendants in the future.
Neither Barron’s firm, Bettencourt, nor Paso Robles City Manager Ty Lewis responded to requests for comment sent Tuesday night.
Lira, a homeless man with a history of mental illness, was shot and killed two days after the spree, concluding a manhunt that garnered national headlines.
According to news reports and a 43-page document prepared by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office, on the evening of June 8, Lira broke into Bettencourt’s San Luis Obispo office and stole two guns: a .38-caliber revolver, and a 40-caliber semi-automatic pistol.
Around 3 a.m. on June 10, after police were notified of shots fired downtown, surveillance cameras showed Lira holding a handgun outside the police station. As Lira continued to shoot the gun at various locations, including toward the police station, officers from other law enforcement agencies arrived to assist. Around 4:24 a.m., after Dreyfus arrived, Lira shot Dreyfus below his right ear. Lira managed to flee the scene despite being surrounded by law enforcement. Around 7:36 am, police found the body of Watson, a 58-year-old homeless man, shot as if executed near the Paso Robles train station.
A massive manhunt ensued, but Lira wasn’t located until he was spotted in a riverbed the next afternoon. As locals — many home due to the nascent Covid-19 pandemic — listened to the drama on police scanner apps and reporters conducted interviews nearby, a shootout ensued, and three more officers were shot before Lira was killed. An autopsy revealed that Lira had been struck by 10 bullets.
At the time of his death, he carried 35 live rounds of .40-caliber bullets and three bullets from the revolver. Those bullets were “consistent with the ammunition stolen in the burglary,” according to the prosecution report.
Prior to the shootings, Lira had 51 documented contacts with law enforcement in three states, a history of making homicidal threats and known mental illness, according to the report. Firearms had been seized from him on multiple occasions.
Barron’s suit claims that Bettencourt “negligently stored the firearms and ammunition in an unsecured location.” His failure to lock the firearms, Barron contends, contributed to the death and injuries.
Barron also accused the Paso Robles police of dereliction of their duty. Having seen Lira with a handgun, he wrote, “these individuals elected not to confront Lira but instead called for outside law enforcement agencies to respond to the scene.” That allowed Lira to continue his shooting spree, Barron contends, noting that the police outnumbered Lira, had superior weapons, communication devices and tactical positioning.
Were it not for the police department’s failure to confront Lira, the suit continued, “Lira would more likely than not have been stopped at the Paso Robles Police Station and would not have been afforded the opportunity to subsequently shoot Nicholas Dreyfus in the face and kill James Watson.”
The Paso Robles Police Department wasn’t specifically named as defendants, according to the suit, because the plaintiffs had to first file a tort claim, which was rejected by the city.
While the District Attorney’s “36-hour homicidal crime spree” report concluded that Lira’s death was justified, it did not address police training or any civil liability. It never named Bettencourt, referring to his law office as a “business office.”
A few days after the shooting, San Luis Obispo Police Captain Jeff Smith told the San Luis Obispo tribune he wasn’t sure how the guns had been stored in Bettencourt’s office but advised members of the public they “should safely store any kind of weapon.”
Bettencourt’s primary areas of practice include family and criminal law. According to his website, he was a police officer for a decade and a member of the National Guard, currently serving as a lieutenant colonel.
Nearly three weeks after after the shootings, Dreyfus, now 30, returned home to locals who stood on an overpass waving flags and banners as the deputy was escorted by a parade of law enforcement vehicles.
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