Confusion, rumors, and accusations surround Perris officer involved shooting

UPDATED: Friday, March 15, 2:15 p.m., With suspect’s arrest information and other details.

See updated story and links to original story below.

PERRIS — In the wake of rumors, speculation, and allegations of a cover-up after a Perris officer involved shooting early last Wednesday morning, Riverside County sheriff’s officials announced today the arrest of the alleged suspect involved in the incident.

In the days following Wednesday’s shooting, numerous Perris residents have come forward, telling RCNS and posting on social media that the sheriff’s department was covering up what they claimed was the fatal shooting of a woman in a stolen SUV who officials allege accelerated toward deputies, causing one deputy to open fire on the woman.

SEE ORIGINAL STORY:Search for woman ongoing after Perris officer involved shooting

From the beginning, sheriff’s officials reported the alleged suspect managed to elude capture that morning and that they were continuing their efforts to identify, locate, and apprehend her.

However, numerous area residents later came forward, calling the sheriff’s account of the shooting “outright lies and fabrications,” claiming that deputies fatally shot the woman and were for some reason covering up the incident.

Contacted yesterday morning for additional details and information, Riverside Sheriff’s Media Information Bureau spokesperson Deputy Mike Vásquez told RCNS, “The Sheriff’s Department did not receive any information or reports of any deceased bodies in the area,” and that the department was “continuing to ask the public for help locating and identifying the involved individual(s).”

Despite official accounts and reassurances, there have still been many area residents who continued to claim that deputies shot and killed the alleged suspect that morning, and were not reporting what they alleged was a fatal officer involved shooting and cover-up of the “real facts.”

Officials quashed all further speculation and rumors at around 2 p.m. this afternoon, when Vásquez updated that the alleged suspect had been located and arrested the previous evening, around 10 p.m.

She has since been identified as Olivia Marie Kennett, 42, of Perris. According to Vásquez, she was located and apprehended in the 26000 block of Guthridge in Homeland.

Online jail records indicate Kennett was booked into jail this morning, just after 1 a.m. She was booked on suspicion of attempted murder, possession of a stolen vehicle, and violation of parole. She remains in custody at Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility and is being held without bail. She is scheduled to be arraigned at Riverside’s Hall of Justice, March 19.

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First updated story: Confusion, rumors, and accusations surround Perris officer involved shooting

PERRIS — Questions, confusion, anger, and accusations against Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, continue to swirl around an officer involved shooting that happened in Perris, early Wednesday morning, March 13. Sheriff’s officials have previously reported that a deputy opened fire on a Hispanic female driver when she accelerated in their direction, after they spotted her inside a stolen SUV. Officials have said the shooting occurred near the intersection of La More and West Metz roads.

Although officials said and continue to maintain that the alleged supect managed to escape after the 3:40 a.m. shooting, that she was not found that evening, and that she remains unidentified – after hearing about the incident area residents took to social media and contacted RCNS directly, blasting the department’s account, calling it “outright lies and fabrications.”

Many people, who claim to have first-hand knowledge of the shooting, have alleged the deputy shot the woman “five times” and that her lifeless body was later found one block away from where deputies eventually located the stolen vehicle, near the intersection of Diana St. and W. San Jacinto Ave.

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Among those who claim the sheriff’s department is lying about the shooting and covering up the “real facts” about what happened is Perris resident Amber Snetsinger, who angrily told RCNS on social media, “This report is wrong.”

“The cop shot her five times and her body was in front of someone I knows house covered up,” Snetsinger continued. “The car was found on lamore but she was killed the next street over.”

Another Perris resident, Marc Anthony Mish, echoed Snetsinger’s account, writing to RCNS, “This whole story is all fucked up the police needs to tell the whole story.”

“The whole report is all false,” Mish continued. “Don’t trust (t)he police get the facts rite dumd asses.”

“This police report is false. This shit is a lie,” Jay Frank, also of Perris, wrote to RCNS saying, “They shot n killed her.”

Heather Watts, who also lives in Perris wrote to RCNS, saying in part, “They are only putting half the story on here.”

“It’s crazy,” Watts continued.  “I find it actually very disturbing that they’re not say anything about this woman that they shot and killed their acting like it never happened.”

Watts went on to describe that after hearing gunfire in her neighborhood, she was contacted by “a friend of mine on the next street” who told her “that there was a dead body of a woman laying in the front of his yard and she had been shot by the police.”

“So we’re not really understanding the whole situation,” Watts continued. “But maybe this dead woman was the passenger and there is still another woman at large but they’re not putting anything about the dead woman.”

SEE ORIGINAL STORY: Search for woman ongoing after Perris officer involved shooting

Despite the Internet based rumors and allegations, the sheriff’s department is standing by their original report regarding the incident.

Contacted yesterday for confirmation and additional details about last Wednesday’s officer involved shooting, Riverside Sheriff’s Media Information Bureau spokesperson Deputy Mike Vásquez told RCNS, “The Sheriff’s Department did not receive any information or reports of any deceased bodies in the area.”

“We are continuing to ask the public for help locating and identifying the involved individual(s),” Vásquez continued. “If anyone has information they would like to share, please have them contact homicide Investigator Button at (951) 955-2777.”

Callers can refer to incident file number PC190720007 and can remain anonymous. Citizens may also submit a tip using the Sheriff’s Homicide Tipline online form.

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Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 47, moved last year to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, The Valley Chronicle, and Anza Valley Outlook; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 28 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 15 – but soon to be 16 – grandchildren.