| This website is created in memory of "Rudy Cardenas" 12/30/60 - 02/17/04 He was one of many killed by law enforcement. |
On the afternoon of February 17, 2004, California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement undercover agent Michael Walker sat in a
car outside the San Jose home of a wanted parole violator named David Gonzales, waiting for him to show up. The stakeout
included other Narcotics agents and agents of the State Parole Fugitive Apprehension Team. Walker did not have a photo of
Gonzales, and had only a rough idea of what he looked like—Latino, of medium build, with a mustache. He knew Gonzales had
once done prison time for assault with a deadly weapon and considered him dangerous.
The 33-year old Walker had joined the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement almost two years earlier, after 11 years on the force of
the Watsonville Police, where he was a patrol officer. In 2002 a woman filed an unreasonable force claim against him in which he
was said to have failed to give her adequate medical attention after other officers injured her. A jury cleared him in that case.
A van pulled up in front of Gonzales’ house at 1:10 p.m. and then quickly drove off again. The driver of the van was 43 year-old
Rudolfo “Rudy” Cardenas of San Jose. Walker and other agents thought he fit the description of Gonzales and began to follow
him. Cardenas tried to get away and a chase ensued.
Police communications were scrambled. The agents were not able to communicate on police radio, and could not check the
license plate of the van to identify the driver. They informed the San Jose Police Department they were on a chase by calling
911 on a cell phone. SJPD officers who spotted them wondered what they were doing tearing wildly around downtown.
Cardenas finally ditched his van, ran through an alley and jumped a fence into a parking lot to get away. Walker, giving chase
on foot, came up to the fence, aimed his Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol through the chain link, and shot Cardenas in
the back from at least 35 feet away. Acording to witnesses Rudy was running with his back toward Agent Walker, he had both
his hands in the air repeatedly saying "Don't Shoot" "You Already Shot me, I Don't Have a Gun". The bullet punctured a major
artery. By the time Walker realized Cardenas was not Gonzales, Cardenas was already dead at San Jose Medical Center.
Gonzales was arrested later that day without incident. In a savage twist to a tragic story, treatment of Cardenas at the scene was
delayed ten minutes. There was a dispatch error, police say, and paramedics were kept away. As Cardenas bled to death,
police were walking around him, snapping pictures and collecting evidence, apparently inured to his mortal agony. Cardenas
was married and had five children, along with a warm extended family.
car outside the San Jose home of a wanted parole violator named David Gonzales, waiting for him to show up. The stakeout
included other Narcotics agents and agents of the State Parole Fugitive Apprehension Team. Walker did not have a photo of
Gonzales, and had only a rough idea of what he looked like—Latino, of medium build, with a mustache. He knew Gonzales had
once done prison time for assault with a deadly weapon and considered him dangerous.
The 33-year old Walker had joined the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement almost two years earlier, after 11 years on the force of
the Watsonville Police, where he was a patrol officer. In 2002 a woman filed an unreasonable force claim against him in which he
was said to have failed to give her adequate medical attention after other officers injured her. A jury cleared him in that case.
A van pulled up in front of Gonzales’ house at 1:10 p.m. and then quickly drove off again. The driver of the van was 43 year-old
Rudolfo “Rudy” Cardenas of San Jose. Walker and other agents thought he fit the description of Gonzales and began to follow
him. Cardenas tried to get away and a chase ensued.
Police communications were scrambled. The agents were not able to communicate on police radio, and could not check the
license plate of the van to identify the driver. They informed the San Jose Police Department they were on a chase by calling
911 on a cell phone. SJPD officers who spotted them wondered what they were doing tearing wildly around downtown.
Cardenas finally ditched his van, ran through an alley and jumped a fence into a parking lot to get away. Walker, giving chase
on foot, came up to the fence, aimed his Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol through the chain link, and shot Cardenas in
the back from at least 35 feet away. Acording to witnesses Rudy was running with his back toward Agent Walker, he had both
his hands in the air repeatedly saying "Don't Shoot" "You Already Shot me, I Don't Have a Gun". The bullet punctured a major
artery. By the time Walker realized Cardenas was not Gonzales, Cardenas was already dead at San Jose Medical Center.
Gonzales was arrested later that day without incident. In a savage twist to a tragic story, treatment of Cardenas at the scene was
delayed ten minutes. There was a dispatch error, police say, and paramedics were kept away. As Cardenas bled to death,
police were walking around him, snapping pictures and collecting evidence, apparently inured to his mortal agony. Cardenas
was married and had five children, along with a warm extended family.
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