Tensions flare as Richmond police ask council to boost ranks and return officers suspended in fatal shooting

More than a dozen Richmond Police Department officers, staff and supporters used the public comment period of Tuesday’s City Council meeting to ask the city to fill dozens of Police Department vacancies, saying understaffing has forced many officers to work double shifts and even sleep at the station. 

But when Lt. George McLoughlin used his turn at the microphone to call for the return of two officers who were put on leave last month after the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Angel Montaño, the meeting took a contentious turn.  

“This was not a justified killing,” shouted Adrian Marcel, Montaño’s cousin, wearing a sweatshirt displaying Montaño in his U.S. Marines uniform. 

“Then why did you call?” someone in the crowd shouted back. 

On Aug. 4, a man called 911 saying his brother, Angel Montaño, who had “mental issues,” was holding a kitchen knife and becoming aggressive, according to a video of redacted 911 audio and police body camera footage released by the Richmond Police Department. Montaño’s mother stood between him and his brother, telling him to “please put down the knife.” As officers approached the apartment on the 400 block of First Street, they were informed that Montaño had picked up a second knife. At least three Richmond officers can be seen outside the front door when Montaño comes out,  still holding the knives. They order him to stop and when he keeps moving, at least two of the officers — identified by the department as Nicholas Remick and Colton Stocking — fire their guns, killing Montaño.

Remick and Stocking were put on administrative leave while the Richmond police Investigations Bureau and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office investigate the shooting. 

Marcel told Richmond Confidential that the show of support for Remick and Colton diminished his cousin’s death, and that officers were talking as if “they ran over a cat or they shot a dog that was coming at them.” He said the body-cam footage showed an officer with a shield who would have had the opportunity to knock Montaño down.

“If he would have done that, we wouldn’t even be here. My cousin would be probably arrested, in somewhere where he’s getting help, but he would be alive and with his family. And that’s where he’s not right now,” Marcel said. “Instead, his family’s at the house, mourning still, and he’s buried, and we’re pissed off.”

Filling the ranks

At Tuesday’s meeting, the audience was filled with officers supporting the petition to increase their ranks and their salaries, as the police union’s contract with the city expired in July. Four union members, including the president, called for the return of their suspended colleagues. Countering that petition were Marcel and other Montaño relatives and friends, holding signs that read “Justice for Angel” and “No raise for RPD. They do not value life!” With them were members of the Bay Area chapter of Dare to Struggle, an organization that helps communities organize to fight injustice. 

Mayor Eduardo Martinez called for order, as the two sides vied to be heard. Councilmember Jamelia Brown asked Martinez to let those advocating for Montaño speak. In response, Martinez recessed the meeting for 10 minutes.  

When public comment resumed, Benjamin Therriault, president of the Richmond Police Officers Association addressed staffing, while fellow union officers stood up in support.

“Some of you … need to take seriously the recruitment and retention issues of this city and the Police Department. You have not done so,” Therriault said.

In April, a Contra Costa County grand jury recommended that the city continue to invest in alternatives to policing while also “supporting the efforts of the RPD, with a goal of filling all vacancies and having enough police officers appropriate for a city of its size and complexity.” The grant jury’s report showed the department had 113 sworn officers and 33 unfilled positions in 2024.  

While recruitment has been difficult for departments across the country since public outcry over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020, Richmond’s staffing issue started a year earlier, Assistant Chief Timothy Simmons told Richmond Confidential. Earlier this month, he said the department had only 81 officers on active duty. 

“We have sleeping quarters on our property because officers are working 18-hour days and have only six hours in between their next shift,” he said. “And for them to get any sleep whatsoever, they have to stay in the department, and they’re basically working firefighter shifts as police officers.” 

Sgt. Miles Bailey, who oversees recruitment and training, said potential recruits are avoiding Richmond, and officers who train at the department are leaving for other agencies where they have “competitive pay, safer environments and real, fair and unbiased support from city leaders.” 

“Let me be clear,” he added. “If we can’t recruit new officers, response times will get slower, crime will grow, and our community will ultimately pay the price.”

---

The Stakes: After months of mixed messages, Trump cuts EPA grants to polluted California communities, including North Richmond