Two officers named in fatal shooting of teen

Police on Tuesday released the names of two officers who shot and killed a knife-wielding teen in Salinas last week.

According to Salinas police chief Adele Frese, the two officers are Manuel Lopez Jr., a nine-year Salinas Police Department veteran, and Jared Dominici, a three-year veteran of the department.

Around 1:35 a.m. on Jan. 18, police responded to the 600 block of Terrace Street where they found a teenager later identified as Marlon Joel Rodas-Sanchez sharpening a butcher knife on the concrete sidewalk, Monterey County prosecutors said.

Rodas-Sanchez began swinging the knife at the officers and did not comply with their order to drop it. He then began banging a nearby shed with his fist, at which point firefighters sprayed him with a fire hose in an attempt to get him to drop the knife, prosecutors said.

Officers then shot the boy with a Taser stun gun and rubber bullets, but he did not let go of the knife. Instead, he began swinging the knife at officers before running into a nearby home.

Inside the home, Rodas-Sanchez allegedly moved towards the officers with the knife. At 2:27 a.m., officers shot and killed him, prosecutors said.

As is standard procedure, both officers have been placed on administrative leave, police said.