Tony Willi Zeppetella, 27, an Oceanside Police Department officer, was killed on June 13, 2003, during a traffic stop in the parking lot of a Navy Federal Credit Union branch. The driver, Adrian George Camacho, opened fire as Zeppetella returned to his patrol car, striking him multiple times including the neck. Zeppetella returned fire and wounded Camacho in the leg, but Camacho then pistol-whipped him, shot him again with the officer’s service weapon, and fled in the patrol car. Marines and Navy paramedics at the scene attempted aid; Zeppetella was taken to Palomar Medical Center, where he died.

Camacho later barricaded at a former in-laws’ home, surrendered after a four-hour standoff, and was charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances among other counts. He was convicted on November 14, 2005, and sentenced to death on February 7, 2006. The prosecution said Camacho acted to avoid arrest for drug and weapons offenses and driving without a license; the defense cited drug use and prescribed medications affecting his mental state. Zeppetella, survived by his wife, their six-month-old son, parents, brother and sister, was the first Oceanside officer killed in the line of duty in nearly 87 years and is commemorated by the Tony Zeppetella Memorial Highway on a section of Highway 76.

Does anyone have firsthand information about the traffic stop or the events in the Navy Federal Credit Union parking lot?