ATTORNEY GENERAL IDENTIFIES OFFICER WHO KILLED MAN

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office Wednesday identified the
state drug agent who fatally shot a San Jose man mistaken for a
fugitive parolee last week as Michael Walker.

The 33-year-old officer has been an agent with the state Bureau of
Narcotic Enforcement for a little over a year and previously worked 11
years in the Watsonville police department, said Lockyer spokeswoman
Hallye Jordan.

Walker was assisting state parole agents Feb. 17 in staking out the
14th Street home of David Gonzales, 37, who has a prison record for
drug and assault convictions and was considered dangerous.

When a van with a driver resembling Gonzales pulled up to the home and
sped away, Walker and other agents chased the man to Fourth and St.
James streets, where the motorist ditched the vehicle and ran, the
attorney general's office said. Walker followed and opened fire when
he feared he was about to be shot, police said.

Police later determined the slain man was not Gonzales but Rodolfo
``Rudy'' Cardenas, a 43-year-old father of five and friend of the
parolee's. Cardenas was unarmed. His funeral is today at 10 a.m. at
Oak Hill Chapel, 300 Curtner Ave., San Jose. Cardenas' family has
called on authorities to hold an open inquiry into the shooting.