Santa Ana community urges justice for Noe Rodriguez and ICE-police transparency

On Sunday, anger and grief erupted in Santa Ana's community as they marched to the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) building to demand justice for the murder of Noe Rodriguez.

In March, the Santa Ana community rallied to protest the fatal shooting.

As CALÓ News reported on the initial calls for justice, the family of Rodriguez had requested the officers' names be released, but the police department did not fulfill their request. 

It was until David Pulido, a member of the Community Service Organization, Orange County (CSO-OC), filed a Public Records Act request to the California Department of Justice for all records related to Noe Rodriguez’s killing that the family and community were informed. Specifically, this request, filed sometime in February, sought the officer's names and body camera footage.

According to the records Pulido obtained, Luis Casillas, badge number 3755, and Isaac Ibarra, badge number 3178, are the two officers who fired over 30 bullets into the body of Rodriguez on the night of December 1, 2024, as body camera footage shows. 

“It is very important to note that the police department shared none of this despite multiple requests from lawyers representing Noe’s family,” said Matthew Compton, an organizer with CSO-OC. 

"He never harmed anyone," said Erika Armenta, Rodriguez' wife. "No one deserves to die that way."

As she held a poster with the officers' photos, she said: "These are Noe Rodriguez's killers, and they are still patrolling our streets. This has to stop. The police department should exclude them and stop covering for them. It's been five months and they are still free. This has to stop, they can kill anyone of us. He didn't understand the instructions in English."

Authorities initially stated that officers responded to a call that a man was allegedly holding a rifle in the area. Family and community activists dispute the police narrative, insisting that Rodriguez posed no threat and did not have a rifle. 

Body camera footage shows that within minutes the officers arrived at the intersection of Broadway and Second Street and encountered Rodriguez, officers Casillas and Ibarra unloaded their clips and fired over 30 shots. The video has fueled outrage with protests outside the SAPD building. 

The Orange County Register reported the officers thought Rodriguez was holding a a long shotgun, which turned out to be fake, according to Officer Natalie Garcia, a police spokesperson. After the shooting, they realized it was a replica gun that couldn’t fire.

Calls for justice and full transparency in ICE communications

The residents of Santa Ana are demanding the arrest of the two officers and justice for the Rodriguez family.

Additionally, they are calling for the department to publish all communications with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

On May 5th, independent investigative journalist Ben Camacho published a detailed report on Inadvertent regarding how the SAPD received forty-two alerts from ICE but did not inform the community. “When SAPD was approached about this (ICE alerts), they lied about it. That they do not get this (ICE alerts) directly,” said Rain Mendoza, an organizer with CSO-OC. “Now we know, through investigative journalism, that it is false,” Mendoza added. 

Camacho’s report indicates that immigration agents messaged SAPD between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m., yet it is unclear if ICE or Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents entered neighborhoods across Santa Ana. SAPD responded to the journalist's public request and stated, “(SAPD did) not assist on these incidents,” and that “the information is provided to (SAPD) as a courtesy.” SAPD’s response to Camacho contradicts what the officers told the activist by stating that they do not receive the alerts directly; however, the department acknowledged receiving them to the Inadvertent. 

Marches persist as organizers vow to continue fighting for justice for Rodriguez, demanding full transparency in ICE communications with the department. “We know their names now,” said Armenta. “We won’t let them hide. They need to answer for what they did.” 

This is a developing story.