PHOENIX — A Phoenix family is demanding answers after police shot and killed a man they say was trying to stop an intruder.
Just days after prosecutors declined to file charges against the officer, the family is calling on the Arizona Attorney General to step in and take action.
Dozens of people gathered in downtown Phoenix Thursday morning, with signs and chants demanding justice for Christian Diaz Rendon. He was the dad who died in January, after being shot by Phoenix police while disarming an intruder.
The gathering and press conference come after the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced that there will not be charges against the officer who fired the shot.
Clutching photos of her dad on trips and at birthday parties, 9-year-old Yahri Diaz Gonzalez says she thinks about him every day.
“Because he was a good man,” she said.
Yahri stood with her siblings and mother outside Phoenix City Hall, calling for criminal charges in her father’s death.
The shooting happened on January 26. Police got a call about an armed man forcing his way into Diaz Rendon’s West Phoenix home, near 75th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road.
When officers arrived, body camera footage shows Diaz Rendon struggling with the intruder, identified as Edgar Garcia. Then Officer Jason Valenzuela fired through the open door, killing the 36-year-old.
“The person he looked for for help was the person that pulled the trigger on him,” Yajaira Rosas, Diaz Rendon’s stepdaughter, said.
Officer Valenzuela told investigators he believed Diaz Rendon was the armed threat.
“To me, everything is sounding like there's people that are getting killed in inside of the house,” he said during a recorded interview obtained by ABC15.
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Valenzuela remains on administrative duty, still under internal investigation.
“Based on all of the evidence, Officer Valenzuela reasonably believed that there was an imminent danger to others and that he had no choice but to fire his weapon to protect them,” Rachel Mitchell, Maricopa County Attorney, said during a press conference last week.
The County Attorney’s Office says there is no conflict of interest between prosecutors and Phoenix Police.
Read the full statement from MCAO in response to the family press conference:
"The death of Christian Diaz Rendon is tragic, and the County Attorney extends her sincere condolences to his family. No one should ever have to experience the terror his family went through that night, and the heartbreak they are suffering as a result.
The officer’s split-second decision was made in the middle of a chaotic situation, and Arizona law and U.S. Supreme Court rulings on the use of force are clear: prosecutors must evaluate the situation as the officer understood it in the heat of the moment, even if the facts turn out to be wrong in hindsight. The decision not to file charges was made after a careful evaluation of all the available evidence, including body-worn camera footage, departmental reports, radio traffic, and interviews. That said, the County Attorney is willing to reconsider any case if new evidence becomes available.
The Maricopa County Attorney, not the Arizona Attorney General, has jurisdiction over critical incidents involving law enforcement within Maricopa County. We work closely with law enforcement, as is the nature of the criminal justice system, but this in no way influences the decisions made in this office, and there is no conflict of interest in this situation. If a crime is committed and we believe it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt so that a jury will unanimously agree, we will charge the person responsible."
The case could be reconsidered if new evidence emerges.
Diaz Rendon’s wife, Mariana Gonzalez, is holding on to that.
“That they reconsider their decision. Because what they’re doing is an injustice,” Gonzalez told ABC15 in Spanish.
Garcia faces multiple charges, including potentially murder in Diaz Rendon’s death.
“The time of Officer Valenzuela's execution of Christian, Edgar Garcia was disarmed and subdued. Do not exacerbate this injustice with another injustice,” David Chami, the family’s attorney, translated for Gonzalez during the press conference.
The family is calling for more crisis training for officers, but their deepest fear goes beyond this case.
“I’m worried the next time that person is going to call for help, thinking that the police are going to save them and protect them and make sure that the dangers that come after them get subdued,” Jarvis Rosas, Diaz Rendon’s son, said. “Instead, it’s going to hurt them. It’s going to get them, anybody who calls for help is just going to end up a victim instead.”
