The Contra Costa County district attorney has cleared two Richmond police officers of criminal wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of Angel Montaño, a Richmond man with a history of mental illness, last August.
District Attorney Diana Becton’s office issued a report today concluding that Richmond Police Department officers Nicholas Remick and Colton Stocking acted in “lawful self-defense and defense of others,” and that no further action would be taken in the case.
Neither Remick, who also shot and killed Jose de Jesus Mendez in February 2025, nor Stocking have yet to be reinstated to their jobs by City Manager Shasa Curl — a fact that has drawn the ire of the Richmond Police Officers Association (RPOA) in recent months.
RPOA President and RPD Sgt. Ben Therriault issued a statement Friday saying the outcome confirmed the union’s original stance that the shooting was warranted. He was also critical of Richmond Progressive Alliance-affiliated (RPA) council members who he said have been instrumental in delaying Remick and Stocking’s return.
“As we have stated from day one, this is a justified shooting,” Therriault wrote. “(council members) Claudia Jiménez and Sue Wilson owe both officers a formal apology. City Manager Shasa Curl should be ashamed for her actions of failing to return the officers to work.”
with a knife in each hand. He was 27. Credit: Courtesy of David Nieto
During a number of tense council meetings after the Montaño shooting, both Jimenez and Wilson pushed the city to change how the police department communicates to the public after in-custody fatalities. Now, the city must issue a press release within 24 hours and must make it clear which agencies are investigating the incident. It also must issue investigation updates at least every 30 days.
The initial press release also must include: a link to the Community Police Review Commission (CPRC), explaining its purpose; information about how the public can request to see unedited police body camera footage under California’s Assembly Bill 748; and information about how those directly affected by the incident can access support services.
Friday’s report shed more light on exactly what happened, including the brief moment from when police opened the apartment door to the shooting — less than two seconds.
According to the district attorney’s report, Montaño’s brother called 911 just after 5 p.m. on Aug. 4, 2025 to report that his brother had a knife and was threatening to kill him and their mother inside their Richmond apartment.
When a dispatcher asked whether Montaño had hurt anyone, the brother replied, “Not yet, but he will,” the report said.
Officers were also told Montaño suffered from paranoia, was not taking his medications and had a military background as a Marine.
Six Richmond police officers responded and came up with a plan that included deploying a ballistic shield and waiting for an officer equipped with a launcher that shoots non-lethal projectiles to arrive. At 5:09 p.m., dispatch advised that Montaño was holding a second knife and that a woman could be heard screaming inside the apartment.
Remick opened the front door, which was already slightly open, and said, “Richmond police.” He saw Montaño armed with two knives, standing over his mother and brother, who were crouching in the kitchen. Montaño turned toward Remick and came out of the front door with the knives in his hands. Officers ordered him to stop three times, the report said.
Remick then fired his department-issued rifle nine times. Stocking, positioned about 15 feet away, simultaneously fired his handgun five times. Montaño fell on the landing outside the front door and never regained consciousness. An autopsy the following day listed his cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds.
Family members inside the apartment were physically unharmed.
The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office conducted its investigation under the county’s Law Enforcement Involved Fatal Incident (LEIFI) Protocol, reviewing body-worn camera footage, conducting interviews with officers and civilians and reviewing crime lab reports, 911 recordings and dispatch logs. Previously released body-worn camera footage from both Remick and Stocking showed Montaño coming out of the apartment holding two knives.
Montaño’s brother told investigators he had hoped officers would use a non-lethal weapon. His mother, who was interviewed separately, wept and asked investigators why officers shot her son, saying she believed they could have shot him in the leg to make him drop the knives.
The DA’s office found the officers’ use of deadly force reasonable under the totality of the circumstances, according to the report which cited Montaño’s “rapid advance on a retreating officer who was feet away from being stabbed, his failure to comply with repeated commands despite the visible presence of a rifle, and the rapidly escalating situation inside the apartment.”
“Officer Remick and Officer Stocking acted in lawful self-defense/defense of others,” the report states. “Both officers reasonably believed Officer Remick was in imminent danger of suffering great bodily injury from a knife attack.”
The report also acknowledged that Montaño had a diagnosed mental illness, noting the California Legislature’s finding that people with mental health disabilities are involved in between one-third and one-half of all fatal encounters with law enforcement. Montaño had been hospitalized at John Muir Hospital about a year before the shooting after becoming catatonic. His family told investigators he had not been taking prescribed medication since mid-2024 and had refused to see mental health practitioners.
In the aftermath of the shooting, during a press conference where RPD released part of the bodycam footage, former police Chief Bisa French questioned existing laws related to mental health.
“As a society we continue to talk about mental health and alternative responses but we still leave it up to mentally ill individuals to make decisions that they are clearly not capable of making and something has to change,” French said.
