Police detective fatally shoots man who tried to run him over
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

Edgar de Jesus never imagined there would be a fatal shooting outside his Thousand Oaks apartment. When he heard the loud blast of gunshots, he jumped up and looked out his upstairs window to see one man lying on the ground and another man giving first aid, he said.

It was about 6:20 p.m. on Tues., Nov. 14. The man on the ground with a gunshot wound in his chest was Adrian Canley, 25, of Santa Paula. The man administering emergency treatment was Senior Dep. Shane Matthews.

Matthews, a Thousand Oaks sheriff's detective, wasn't wearing a uniform. According to a department report, he was at the Crestwood Chalet conducting follow-up on a nonviolent crime not related to Canley.

While Matthews was interviewing a man in the apartment complex's parking lot, Canley allegedly walked up in an agitated state and verbally acknowledged the deputy as a law enforcement officer, the report said.

Canley allegedly got into a full-size pickup truck parked nearby and attempted to run over the detective, ignoring repeated warnings to stop. Believing his life was in danger, Matthews used his standard issue 40caliber semiautomatic pistol to fire several shots into the vehicle, Capt. Ron Nelson said.

The vehicle came to a stop without striking anyone or damaging property. No one else was in the truck, Nelson said. The detective was not injured. There were several witnesses to the incident, including the man Matthews was interviewing, Nelson said.

After calling 911, De Jesus, the apartment manager, ran down the stairs and discovered the man administering first aid was a plain clothes police officer. De Jesus said he doesn't recall ever seeing Canley before and has since talked with others at the apartment and no one said they knew him.

"We don't know why he was there," De Jesus said.

It wasn't until other deputies were at the scene that it was discovered the man bleeding on the ground had a loaded handgun in his waistband, the report said.

Canley died shortly after arrival at Los Robles Hospital. Toxicology test results will take several weeks to come back, Nelson said.

Matthews, who began his 11year law enforcement career in 1995, was given three days paid leave to recover from the incident and will get more time off if it's needed, Nelson said.

"It is a very traumatic experience to have your life threatened and to have to kill a person," he said.

A three-part investigation will take several months to complete, Nelson said. The three investigations will be done independently by the major crime unit, internal affairs and the district attorney's office, Nelson said.

By the next day, there was no sign remaining that a fatal shooting had taken place at the apartment complex at 2222 Los Feliz Drive. The complex has a "For rent" sign out front, with rents listed as starting at $1,400, De Jesus said. There was a stroller on a porch, small bicycles in the carport area and children outside with their mothers. The apartment has a pool and a laundry area and is located near an elementary school.

"I was just having dinner with my son when we heard the shots," De Jesus recalled. "I would never have imagined something like this would have ever happened in this quiet apartment."