Man shot by El Cajon police had cocaine in his system, autopsy finds

Reporting from El Cajon —  An autopsy on Albert Olango, killed by El Cajon police in September, revealed he was hit by four rounds and bled to death in the hospital during surgery.

He also had cocaine and a small amount of alcohol in his system, according to the report released Thursday.

Olango, 38, was fatally shot Sept. 27 when he pointed his clasped hands at an officer while holding a vaping device with a silver cylinder.

Police were investigating after Olango’s sister phoned 911 three times to say that he was not acting like himself and that he needed a psychiatric evaluation. Olango was seen walking into traffic, and officers confronted him behind a taco shop.

Officer Josh McDaniel shot Olango with a Taser at the same time that Officer Richard Gonsalves fired four rounds from his pistol. All four rounds hit Olango.

The district attorney found the shooting legally justified. That finding and the release of photos and video of the shooting prompted numerous protest marches and demonstrations, with critics decrying the police action as another example of an unarmed black man gunned down by white officers.

The autopsy noted Olango had bullet wounds to his upper right arm, the left side of his neck, the back of his right shoulder and his lower left chest. Some of the penetrating rounds hit his liver, kidney and lung and fractured his ribs.

Surgeons discovered what the autopsy referred to as a “devastating” wound to a major artery leading from the middle of the body to the heart.

A toxicology report noted cocaine and related compounds in Olango’s blood and urine. His blood-alcohol level was .02%, below the level presumed to be under the influence under California law.

[email protected]

Repard writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.