Fremont, NJ: Family files wrongful death lawsuit against city of Fremont

FREMONT -- In the early hours of June 10, 2010, Fremont police responded to a call reporting that Juan Mosso had threatened to harm his estranged wife, Miramar Perez, at the apartment she shared with her boyfriend and her three young children, authorities have said.

Moments later, officers entered the apartment and shot and killed Mosso after they saw he was armed with a knife, police said.

But a wrongful-death lawsuit that Mosso's family filed last week said Mosso did not pose a threat to Perez that night, claiming also that police reported an inaccurate version of the incident to protect themselves from liability in the fatal shooting.

"In a nutshell, they shouldn't have shot him," said Edwin Bradley, Perez's San Francisco-based attorney.

Fremont police spokesman Detective Bill Veteran declined to comment Friday, per the department's policy on pending litigation. Fremont City Attorney Harvey Levine also declined to comment Friday.

During the incident, Perez's boyfriend called police a little before 2:30 a.m. and told officers that Mosso had come to their apartment intoxicated and threatened to kill Perez, Veteran said last year.

A brief scuffle ensued, and the boyfriend was forced out of the home at Camden Village Apartments, 38000 Camden St. The boyfriend then called authorities, police said last year.

Officers eventually decided to force their way into the home because Mosso reportedly was armed with a knife, and police could hear people screaming from within the dwelling, Veteran said last year.

Officers also feared for the young children's safety, police have said.

The children, ages 9, 4 and 2, were not harmed.

But Perez's attorney said that the children suffered in other ways.

"The children were awake; they were less than a dozen feet from where the shooting occurred," Bradley said. "They were around the corner in another room and they could hear it."

Mosso was shot once in the chest with a shotgun, and three times in his lower back, and once in the arm with a pistol, Bradley said.

The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, names the Fremont police, the city of Fremont, and police officers Jeffery Lawrence, Timothy Ferrara and John Kennedy as co-defendants.

The suit is seeking unspecified damages "for the family's emotional stress, pain and suffering, and the loss of financial and familial support that the family otherwise would have had," Bradley said.