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"Everything happened too soon": Mother of Santa Maria man killed by police opens up about son's death

Manuel Reyes Rios and his mother, Dolores Rios, celebrating his 18th birthday.
Courtesy of Dolores Rios
Manuel Reyes Rios and his mother, Dolores Rios, celebrating his 18th birthday.

The mother of a 19-year-old man who was shot and killed by a Santa Maria police officer earlier this year is opening up about her son’s death for the first time.

Dolores Rios remembers the last time she saw her son, Manuel Reyes Rios. I spoke with her recently through a translator.

“He just recently had milk and bread and walked out of the house. I never imagined that something was gonna happen to him,” Dolores said.

Manuel never came home that day.

In late March, he was shot and killed by Antonio Pena, an off-duty Santa Maria police officer outside of Melody Market in Orcutt.

Dolores is a single mother of three children who works on a strawberry farm in Santa Maria. She said her son didn’t deserve to die that night.

“My son is a good person. He's not like the video that pictured him. He was defending himself. He didn't know this was going to happen. He wanted to save his friends. Everything happened too soon,” Dolores said.

The video showed Manuel and two groups of people engaged in an altercation outside the store. At one point a driver of one of the cars pulls forward, hitting one of the groups.

Around the same time, Officer Pena exited the liquor store as Manuel pulled out a firearm and shot at the group.

The department said Pena, who was in plain clothes, identified himself as an officer. But the video released of the incident does not include audio.

The sheriff’s department said Pena shot Manuel until he fell to the floor. But his mother Dolores says she was told her son was shot a dozen times. The department refused to confirm that number.

“They said, ‘12 gunshots,’ and I said, ‘oh my god isn’t that a lot of shots, and too many?’ and she said ‘yes, it’s too many,’ Dolores said.

Local advocates say Manuel’s death is an example of the criminalization of Santa Maria’s indigenous community.

A week after the shooting a group of about 50 protesters, including community member Gemma Garcia, walked the streets of Santa Maria advocating for police reform.

“It's easier to immediately profile men of color into being violent and being a member of a gang rather than giving him the opportunity to really disclose what happened,” Garcia said.

The incident is being investigated by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, who recently released extended surveillance video footage.

Meanwhile, the sheriff’s department said the investigation into the shooting continues.

A link to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office press release is here.

Gabriela Fernandez came to KCBX in May of 2022 as a general assignment reporter, and became news director in December of 2023. She graduated from Sacramento State with a BA in Political Science. During her senior year, she interned at CapRadio in their podcast department, and later worked for them as an associate producer on the TahoeLand podcast. When she's not writing or editing news stories, she loves to travel, play tennis and take her 140-lbs dog, Atlas, on long walks by the coast.
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