DA says police use of deadly force justified

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced yesterday that two police officers who shot a 57-year-old mentally ill man to death in his South End apartment last year will not face criminal charges because the man was holding two knives and the officers believed their lives were in danger.

Conley's office determined that Officers William Slyne and Thomas Antonio each fired two shots at Luis Gonzalez after he ignored their order to drop his knives and walked toward them while making stabbing motions.

''Our investigative findings, viewed in context of the relevant law, make clear that the officers' lives were threatened and thus their actions constituted a reasonable use of deadly force," Conley said in a statement.

Gonzalez was shot at close range inside his small, dark bedroom at 626 Tremont St. on July 2, 2004. Police went to the apartment after neighbors saw him threatening to kill himself with a box cutter, Conley said.

Anthony Guadalupe, the lawyer for the Gonzalez family, said the family is very upset about how long it took Conley to issue his findings. He also accused police of violating their own rules by breaking down a door to get into Gonzalez's apartment instead of negotiating with him.

''They're saying the police acted in self-defense when they shot him in his own apartment, in his own room," Guadalupe said. ''Protocol was violated. . . . This man was mentally challenged. They should have at least called a psychiatrist."

Officer David Estrada, a police spokesman, said there is no evidence that the officers violated department rules.

City Councilor Chuck Turner, who represents Roxbury, Dorchester, and parts of the South End and who has criticized the department's handling of the shooting, said he is outraged.

''Everyone should have questions about why police would be exonerated when they shot to death an elderly man whose only weapon was a knife," Turner said.

Turner said the decision -- and the 15 months it took to announce it -- highlight the need for a civilian review board to investigate alleged misconduct by officers.

''There's a close working relationship between the DA's office and the Police Department, and the danger is that that colors the judgment," Turner said. ''It's very difficult for the DA's office to be objective in police-involved shootings. A civilian review board should play a role in bringing another perspective."

David Procopio, a spokesman for Conley, disputed Turner's suggestion that investigations of police officers are biased.

''We are deeply sorry for the loss suffered by the Gonzalez family, but we must follow the facts. And the facts are he came at two police officers with two knives in his hand," Procopio said. ''We have complete faith in the impartiality of the Boston police investigators who handle these investigations."

Procopio said that in addition to a firearms discharge investigations team constituting the Police Department's most knowledgeable ballistics specialists, ''there is a second layer of investigation conducted by this office, and our independence and impartiality is above reproach."

He said the inquiry was delayed because the firearms team was handling several cases.

Also yesterday, Conley's office announced there will be no criminal charges against Special Police Officer Michael Guida, who fatally shot a 56-year-old Boston man on Jan. 31, 2004. Guida, a security guard at the Villa Victoria housing complex in the South End, fired a single shot, killing Israel Vasquez-Robles as he fled in his car.

Suzanne Smalley can be reached at ssmalley@globe.com.