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Police shoot and kill man in domestic abuse case
Allegedly pointed gun at officers
By Daniel Hindin
Two Sunnyvale public safety officers shot and killed a Sunnyvale resident at his home on the early morning of Feb. 26.
According to officials, the resident, Daniel McGovern had pointed a semiautomatic pistol at both officers immediately prior to the shooting. Officer Patrick Utter and Lieutenant Kelly Fitzgerald had reported to the home in response to a complaint of domestic abuse.
At 10:33 p.m. on Feb. 25, authorities at an unnamed regional hospital notified Sunnyvale police that they were treating a Sunnyvale woman who was in critical condition after suffering a skull fracture and other serious injuries during a domestic dispute.
Officers responded to the hospital where they interviewed the victim and witnesses who said the woman had been severely beaten by her husband, McGovern. At the hospital, the witnesses told the officers that McGovern was suicidal and that they could probably find him at the couple's apartment at 1244 Balboa Court.
Utter and Fitzgerald arrived at the apartment complex about midnight and discovered that McGovern was not home. They waited there until 1:30 a.m. at which time he returned in his vehicle.
According to reports, the officers confronted McGovern, said to be in his late 30s or early 40s, in the courtyard of the complex where they identified themselves as police officers.
Utter and Fitzgerald couldn't see McGovern's hands and ordered him to raise them.
"At this point," says Captain Chuck Eaneff, "[McGovern] said words like I'm not going to jail; you're not taking me in. Then he reached into his waistband and pulled out a semiautomatic handgun and pointed it at the officers."
Both officers opened fire, striking McGovern 14 times.
Nearby officers, responding to a call for assitance, brought a defibrillator and medical equipment to the scene.
"They hooked him up to the defibrillator and got him an airway," Eaneff says.
But by the time paramedics arrived, they immediately declared McGovern dead.
According to Eaneff, the wife, Julia is still in critical condition at the hospital.
Utter and Fitzgerald have both been put on routine, paid administrative leave during the ongoing investigation of the incident.
Both officers have been with the department close to 10 years.
The department lists McGovern's crimes as attempted murder of spouse and attempted murder of peace officers.
The couple had no children and police have no knowledge of previous domestic disputes between McGovern and his wife.
McGovern met his wife, Julia, on a matchmaking trip to Russia last year, which was documented on the Valentine's Day 2000 episode of CBS's "48 Hours." McGovern and a group of 29 other American bachelors paid $3,000 each to a company that introduced them to a group of Russian women.
Although McGovern told CBS before the trip that he didn't want to be tied down with a wife, and that he was just looking to have some fun.
After just two days in Russia, however, McGovern, who was 40 years-old at the time, told CBS that he had fallen deeply in love with Julia, a 24-year-old aerobics instructor from the Ukraine.
Although other men on the show cautioned against getting too serious, too soon, and Dan Rather himself highlighted the potential problems that arise with these sort of matches, McGovern presented Julia with an engagement ring as they watched the changing of the guards in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier in Moscow.
They talked of spending the rest of their lives together. Julia told CBS that McGovern was caring, kind and handsome--the perfect person for her. McGovern said he could tell in his heart that Julia was whom he had been looking for.
This incident marks the second officer-involved shooting in Sunnyvale in the past six months. In August, officers shot and killed Tomas Carolan, also a Sunnyvale resident, at his Pome Avenue home after he advanced toward officers with a foot-long serrated knife.
Prior to the August shooting, Sunnyvale police had not fatally wounded anyone in more than two years.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
