Eliuth Penaloza Nava, 50

Anaheim, California
July 21, 2018

Agencies: Anaheim Police Department California

Cause of death: Shooting


Follow This Case


Last updated: almost 5 years ago

People tracking this case: 1 -- Click here to Track this.

Overview

The family of an Anaheim man called police this morning concerned that he was possibly drugged out and hallucinating. Eliuth Penaloza Nava, 50, sat parked in his vehicle on 500 West Street around 9:35 a.m. when his family also told officers he was armed with a knife and gun. 

Police arrived promptly on scene and attempted to make contact with Nava. Authorities say the man decided to flee in his vehicle and brandished a gun out the window. The slow-speed chase weaved through residential streets when an officer-involved shooting occurred at one point during the pursuit.

Nava drove back to where the incident all began on West Street where he was pulled from the vehicle bloodied from the shooting. Paramedics arrived and transferred him to UCI Medical Center in Orange where he was later pronounced deceased. 

Details on what prompted the shooting are scant, but police were equipped with body-worn cameras that were activated during the incident. Authorities also released a photograph of a BB gun recovered at the scene. 

Body-worn video footage of the pursuit, which Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu described as disturbing, showed one of the officers repeatedly firing through the front windshield of their police vehicle.

Following the release of the letter, Anaheim Police Department officials confirmed that Pedersen, a probationary officer who was with the department for about a year, had been fired, while Staymates, a 10-year-plus veteran of the department, has been on paid administrative leave since the day of the shooting.