Man who killed officer lost job at SLO climbing gym, suffered mental illness, friends say

May 12—The man who killed a San Luis Obispo police detective and wounded another before reportedly taking his own life had sunk deeper into pre-existing mental illness during the COVID-19 pandemic after losing his job at The Pad climbing gym, his friends said Tuesday.

Edward Zamora Giron II — known to his friends in the San Luis Obispo County rock-climbing community as Eddie — died by what officials believe to be suicide after he shot and killed San Luis Obispo police Det. Luca Benedetti and wounded Det. Steve Orozco Monday evening, city officials said at a news conference.

The two were among six officers serving a search warrant at Giron's apartment off Margarita Avenue in relation to an early Monday morning burglary at Giron's former workplace, according to a post by the gym on social media.

The post said that Giron, who was also shot during the exchange with officers Monday, was a former The Pad Climbing employee and "main suspect" in the burglary.

The business posted its "deepest gratitude" to the San Luis Obispo Police Department and said officials "extend our hearts to the officers who were shot, their families, and their colleagues."

The post's author wrote that while the business knows it's police officers' mission to uphold the law, "for our part, we regret that the relatively small damage done and the things that were taken" cost Benedetti his life. (The post mistakenly implies that two officers died.)

The gym's CEO told The Tribune on Monday before the shooting that she believed the business lost up to $20,000 in equipment, including climbing ropes, harnesses, computers, a safe used to store iPads, keys for the building and parts of the gym's security system, as well as some of the owners' personal items.

CEO Kristin Horowitz told The Tribune on Monday that the burglary was potentially committed by a disgruntled former employee or someone with knowledge of how the gym is run.

Asked about Giron on Tuesday, chief operating officer Jessica Mitchell said The Pad Climbing would not be commenting further at this time.

SLO County sheriff offers few details

San Luis Obispo Superior Court records show Giron had three misdemeanor cases in court that have since been purged from public records pursuant to the law, according to court staff.

At a news conference Tuesday, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said that Giron did have a local criminal record but no history of violence, and that past arrests were for low-level alcohol-related offenses.

Parkinson also said at the conference that the agency has no indication of any record of mental illness, and no firearms were registered to Giron.

The sheriff also said investigators found property at his apartment alleged to have been taken in an unspecified number of commercial burglaries currently under investigation.

Parkinson would not confirm whether one of those suspected burglaries included The Pad.

Though he would not elaborate on the type of firearm Giron allegedly used in the shooting, when asked by a Tribune reporter whether it was "an assault-style rifle," Parkinson said "that aligns" with evidence but declined to elaborate.

Friend describes mental health 'spiral' during pandemic

A close friend of Giron's told The Tribune on Tuesday that he was "one of the kindest people (she's) ever known" and that the shooting was a tragedy.

Nasim Delavari, who lived in San Luis Obispo for eight years before recently moving to the Bay Area, said she met Giron when he worked at the gym in 2016 when it was known as SLO-Op.

Over time, Delavari came to understand that Giron had a hard upbringing, had developed issues with alcoholism, and suffered from some degree of mental illness which included symptoms such as paranoia, she said.

But most people wouldn't suspect any problems based on his fun and caring attitude, she said.

Nor did Delavari suspect any of those issues would result in violence.

"I have never seen him be violent toward me or any of my friends ever. Even when it was clear he was suffering from mental illness, he was always so compassionate, so present and a great friend," Delavari said. "I never felt unsafe around him, ever."

To the contrary, Delavari said Giron introduced her to the local rock climbing community — and to her husband.

"I had just gone through a breakup and was new to the gym. He was so welcoming, so inviting. He was the one who really connected me," she said. "Now I have these lifelong friends, thanks to Eddie."

Delavari said she realized the shooting took place at Giron's apartment when she watched news video of officers investigating the scene.

It was the same apartment where local climbers would gather after late-night Pad sessions to snack on Giron's famous veggie burritos, she said, and where he hosted various Friendsgiving gatherings.

"We would watch parkour videos and be among friends, and he opened his home to us as the central gathering place for friendships and bonds to be formed, bonds that persist even now, years later, and bonds that could not save him from himself," she said.

Delavari said that Giron was "the cornerstone" of the climbing gym during her time going there, and he was known for scaling rock walls in sandals, something he braved during a climb in Yosemite National Park.

"Everybody knew Eddie," she said.

Delavari said she had kept in touch with Giron and last spoke with him a couple months ago over the phone; her husband had spoken to him more recently.

Though he sounded "not great," she said he seemed to be doing reasonably well enough considering more than a year of COVID-19 pandemic safety measures.

She said that she learned from Giron that he was devastated that he not only lost his job at The Pad in the early months of the pandemic, but that he was also banned from the business. Delavari said she doesn't know the details of his departure from the gym.

"The gym was really his source of community, his sense of belonging. When he was let go, that's when he started to spiral," she said.

Giron also grew isolated after some close friends moved out of the county and the pandemic stretched on.

Though close friends knew that Giron owned some kind of firearm, he didn't appear fixated on weapons.

"He wasn't this person who's like, 'I own guns. I go shooting all the time.' That wasn't him," she said.

While Delavari said she's just as saddened by the death of a peace officer, she feels compelled to speak up about her friend, who she said "shouldn't be labeled as just a criminal, as if he wasn't someone who was struggling deeply and (didn't have) people who cared about him."

His story is all the more relevant during May, which is Mental Health Awareness Month, she said, and she hopes city residents will "act with empathy, and act with grace."

"There were two lives lost, and I really just think it could have been avoided," Delavari said.

Friend asked, 'Where did our Eddie go?'

The shooting of the two officers brings back echoes of last summer's manhunt for Mason Lira, a 26-year-old Monterey County man killed after wounding four local law enforcement officers over two days in June.

Lira was diagnosed with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses that, when untreated, manifested in increasingly bizarre social media activity, homelessness and minor contacts with law enforcement before a high-profile crisis.

Kevin Foote, a Santa Maria teacher who knew Giron from the gym and numerous climbing trips since roughly 2013, said Tuesday that he and other friends had grown alarmed at recent changes in Giron's behavior.

At first, a few angry outbursts were off-putting, Foote said, but nothing anyone suspected was dangerous. Then his social media activity grew increasingly odd and nonsensical.

"I'd say, 'Where did he go? Where did our Eddie go?'" Foote said of conversations with their shared group of friends.

After hearing that Giron had at least one run-in with law enforcement in the past, those friends tried in vain to reach out to him, to offer help.

"That's one of the many sad aspects of this: By the time anyone who knew him had heard that he was arrested, he was already lost from our circle," Foote said. "People tried to help him, but he was not reciprocating that act."

Foote told The Tribune he is not defending Giron's actions — "He took a father's life, a husband's life," Foote said — but he said he doesn't want to see either man's life used as political fodder, which he said he's seen enough of on social media.

Instead, he said he hopes people of all political stripes will support better funding for mental health crisis and prevention services that might have resulted in a different outcome.

"Police are not AMFTs (American Marriage and Family Therapists). They're not social services. They are keepers of the peace. They unfortunately have to execute search warrants and be in the line of fire," he said. "We need society to step up. Friends and police can't carry the load. That requires professionals."

He added: "I just mourn that that sweet, loyal, funny man was buried under his own mental illness."

Local mental health services available

Michael Kaplan, community engagement director for the nonprofit Transitions Mental Health Association (TMHA), said events of the last year have increased people's isolation, taking a toll on their mental health.

Kaplan said Tuesday he's not familiar with Giron's case or Monday's shooting and spoke generally with The Tribune about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected residents' mental health and the services available to them.

"There's no question that we've been living through something incredibly impactful," Kaplan said. "There was a cumulative and collective trauma."

Kaplan emphasized that mental illness does not lead to violence — just 4% of violent acts in the U.S. are attributed to mental illness and studies show those suffering from mental illness are as much as 23 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than others.

National Center for Health Statistics data shows the percentage of U.S. survey respondents reporting feeling anxiety and/or depression symptoms increased 31% within the past year.

In response, Kaplan said TMHA has expanded its tele-health services in order to maintain connections with its clients. There's also been an overall increase in the number of people who would not qualify for services generally inquiring about services for others, Kaplan said.

"There is no question that people that were never on our radar or who never thought they would be pursuing basic mental health services were suddenly finding the isolation, the stress, and the constant not knowing if things were going to get better really took their toll," Kaplan said.

The organization recently rebranded its free hotline from SLO Hotline to Central Coast Hotline, and has added a free, short-term therapy clinic where participants can join a Zoom group for six to eight weeks, as well as a text support line.

All the services are free and can be found on TMHA's website.

Anyone who might be experiencing mental health issues or contemplating suicidal thoughts or actions in San Luis Obispo County is encouraged to call the local Central Coast Hotline, a confidential mental health guidance, crisis, and suicide prevention telephone line run by Transitions Mental Health Association. The hotline also provides mental health resource information. Call them any time at 800-783-0607.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct an error in a quote attributed to Kevin Foote.

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