Witness: Camacho followed and shot the wounded officer

By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer | Monday, October 24, 2005 9:22 PM PDT ∞

VISTA ---- Laura Pallos heard the gunshots, then quickly turned and saw an Oceanside policeman stagger out from between two cars and fall to his knees.

Then, the woman testified on Monday, she saw a man with a gun emerge from between the two cars, and she watched as the gunman followed and repeatedly shot the wounded officer as he tried to crawl away.

Pallos' testimony is the most complete eyewitness account jurors have heard about the 2003 gun battle that left rookie officer Tony Zeppetella dead and his accused killer facing the death penalty.

Also on Monday, jurors in the murder trial of the alleged gunman, Adrian George Camacho, heard a medical examiner testify that 13 bullets hit Zeppetella during the gunfight. Two of them were fatal.

Camacho is accused of gunning down Zeppetella on June 13, 2003, during what witnesses said appeared to be a routine traffic stop in a busy credit union parking lot at the corner of College Boulevard and Avenida De La Plata in Oceanside.

Camacho's defense attorneys admit Camacho shot the officer, but they argue that the shooting was the result of a drug-fueled psychotic break for the now 30-year-old Camacho.

Camacho has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. He faces the death penalty if he is convicted of first-degree murder and any of the attached special circumstances, which include the slaying of a police officer.

The prosecution contends the shooting came because Camacho, an ex-convict, allegedly had drugs and a loaded gun in his car and wanted to avoid capture.

Florida resident Pallos testified Monday that she called 911 as soon as she heard the gunfire erupt in the crowded bank parking lot.

"The very first thing I see is the officer stumbling out from between two cars," Pallos said. "He wasn't fully upright."

Then, she said, a gunman emerged behind Zeppetella. Pallos said the wounded officer tried to crawl away from the gunman, who she said continued to shoot the officer.

Pallos said the gunman grabbed Zeppetella by the collar and pistol-whipped him with the butt of the gun four times. Zeppetella, she said, raised his hands to his head and laced his fingers to try to protect himself from the onslaught.

"After he finished hitting him, he threw him down on the asphalt," Pallos said. Later, on cross examination, she described the gunman as appearing to be "outrageously angry" during the attack, and noted that "his lips were contorted" and he had a "twisted mouth."

Pallos said that after the pistol-whipping, the gunman patted down Zeppetella and began to back away.

"The officer tried to get up," she said. "He was lifting his chest and trying to get his elbows underneath him. (The gunman) stepped in those last two steps and shot him again."

The prosecution contends Camacho shot Zeppetella with Zeppetella's own gun during that last volley of bullets.

Jurors on Monday also heard from the pathologist who performed Zeppetella's autopsy.

Deputy Medical Examiner Bethann Schaver testified that of the 13 bullets that hit Zeppetella, two were fatal. At least one of the deadly shots, she said, tore through the officer's protective vest.

One of the bullets that killed Zeppetella sliced his jugular vein and an artery, cutting off some of the blood to his brain; the other fatal bullet tore through his diaphragm and spleen, Schaver said.

Red and green rods riddled a life-size foam mannikin Monday as Schaver showed the jury the paths the bullets took as they hit ---- and in some cases, also exited ---- the rookie officer during a gun battle in June 2003.

Schaver said Zeppetella suffered five shots to his back, one to his neck, six to his arms, and one direct hit to the chest. Also, one of the bullets hit his arm and traveled into his chest, she said.

Zeppetella had four blunt-force wounds to his head, the deputy medical examiner said. None of those hits cracked the officer's skull or injured his brain, she said.

None of the gunshots hit Zeppetella in the head, Schaver acknowledged on cross examination.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at tfigueroa@nctimes.com.

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