Fresno officers feel the pain of Oakland shooting

There is new information on the parolee who shot four Oakland Police Officers.

Investigators say DNA evidence links him to a rape just a day before the shootings. It may be a reason why gunman opened fire on two police officers who pulled him over for a traffic stop.

Three officers are dead and a fourth was left brain dead. It’s the worst loss of life in the Oakland Police Department’s history.

Meanwhile, two Fresno Police Officers know all too well the horror of facing a gunman on parole and the Oakland shooting has brought those bad memories back.

Fresno Police Officer Brian Nieto and his partner Jim Young were in a similar situation just over two years ago and sympathize with the officers and their families in Oakland.

Nieto said, “I feel for them because I know what my family went through and I’m still here. And I know what my friends went through and how tough it was for them and its still to this day.”

In their first on-air interview together, Brian Nieto and his partner Jim Young recalled the night they too faced a gunman on parole, desperate not to return to jail.

Neito was shot July 31st, 2006. It was a traffic stop of a parolee and just like in Oakland, Nieto was also on a motorcycle.

Nieto was shot three times. One of the bullets just missed his bullet proof vest and broke a rib, and tore through his lung and stomach. He spent more than a month in the hospital. Nieto was shot by Joaquin Figueroa, a parolee, wanted for questioning in a murder and several rapes.  Nieto’s partner, Jim Young, was twenty yards behind him and saw everything.

Brian retired from the Fresno Police Department in January. He has nerve damage to his leg and pain that won’t go away. Jim is now a K-9 Officer, patrolling the streets with his dog ‘Rocky’. Their thoughts and prayers are now with the families in Oakland.

The officers say that few people realize the dangers they face every day.

Link/video