Girlfriend Says Sacramento Cops Woke up Man Minutes Before Shooting

A woman whose boyfriend was shot and killed by Sacramento police said Saturday there was nothing wrong at her home when officers arrived, and that she and her boyfriend were sleeping.

Police said the man wound up pointing a weapon at them, which turned out to be a BB gun.

“He came out of the bedroom, he told them, ‘I’m mentally ill, I’m sick, don’t hurt me,” said Sonja Morrow, who identified her boyfriend as Matthew Coates, 42.

The shooting took place Friday afternoon at the couple’s home in the 2000 block of 61st Street, just south of Highway 50.

Authorities said they were responding to a call from a neighbor, who reported a disturbance at the home. But Morrow said the situation inside her home had calmed down and she and her boyfriend both fell asleep.

Norman Petersen, who lives next door to the couple, told KCRA 3 that he called police, but spoke to the couple himself before they arrived.

“(Coates) just flew up, he ordered her to get in the house, his girlfriend,” Petersen said. “And, he looked at me, and he says, ‘You get out of here, or I’ll hit you.’ So, I stood my ground, I took a hit and he gave me a pretty good knock on the face.”

Petersen, who had a bruise under his left eye, said he waited more than an hour for police to arrive.

Morrow said police woke her when they arrived at her door.

A police spokesman told KCRA 3 that he did not know whether officers woke Coates. He said officers spoke to Coates in a bedroom.

Both police and Morrow said responding officers eventually left the bedroom, then asked Coates to come out. That’s when, according to police, the suspect pointed the weapon at them.

“I told them, ‘It’s just a plastic gun, it’s just a plastic gun,’ and then they shot him,” Morrow said.

Petersen said it wasn’t the result he expected when he called police.

“It was over in just a few hours and this man’s life was gone,” Petersen said. “To me it was just very sad that it couldn’t have been dealt with differently. He was just a man that was struggling.”

After the shooting, Coates crawled out of his home to the walkway out front.

“And he was saying, ‘Help me, help me,’ Morrow said. “He had blood coming from his mouth and his chest was bleeding bad.”

The BB gun was indistinguishable from a firearm, police said.

“Officers were absolutely forced to shoot,” said police spokesman Doug Morse.

Morse could not say exactly how long it took officers to respond, but said when they first received the call, there was no indication of a physical fight at the home, only a verbal one.