Jaramillo “fell forward and, while lying face down, let go of the knife and slid it along the floor toward the officer,” the report stated.
Valenzuela began administering first aid and called 911.
“‘I shot a suspect, he was trying to stab a kid, can you send EMS and more units over here, please?’” he told the dispatcher, according to the report.
Jaramillo was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, prosecutors said.
Citing surveillance video inside the restaurant and interviews with Valenzuela, the 17-year-old boy, and two of his friends, Hayden concluded the officer acted within the law to defend himself and others.
“Officer Valenzuela fired his off-duty handgun in a lawful use of force that was necessary to prevent Mr. Jaramillo from killing or seriously wounding the younger male or anyone else,” Hayden said. “Therefore I have determined that criminal charges against the officer are not warranted.”
Valenzuela was in civilian clothes at the time and used his personal 9mm pistol during the encounter, prosecutors said.
“Officer Valenzuela stated that this personal handgun was smaller and easier to conceal than his .40-caliber duty firearm,” the report noted. Boston police “later issued him a spoken reprimand because he had not taken a separate safety course for off-duty weapons as required by department rules.”
According to the report, the events leading to Jaramillo’s death started nearby at the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant at 553 Boylston St. where he arrived around 5:19 p.m. on March 1, 2025.
Jaramillo did not buy any food but asked counter staff for the code to open the men’s room on the second floor, the report said. He tried to open it twice, each time returning to the counter, when he was unsuccessful and asked staff again for the code.
On his third trip to the second floor and on the stairwell, Jaramillo brushed a 17-year-old boy, identified by prosecutors as RLT, and then entered the bathroom. RLT – who was with a 18-year-old man known as NE and a 16-year-old girl, KA – started banging on the bathroom door and when Jaramillo emerged the two men started fighting, the report said.
“RLT gained the upper hand and punched Mr. Jaramillo at least twice in the face. One of these blows broke the sunglasses he was wearing, causing a cut to his eyebrow area,” the report said. “The fight moved from the hallway into the table area, causing a half-dozen diners there to scatter and head for the stairs. At that point Mr. Jaramillo produced and snapped open a folding knife.”
RLT backed off, holding a chair to keep Jaramillo from stabbing him, the report said. RLT left Chipotle, followed by NE and KT, and entered the Chick-fil-A at 5:23 p.m. Jaramillo followed closely behind NE and visibly frightened KT, investigators found. Valenzuela was in line picking up food while his wife was waiting in their car outside, the report found.
“Officer Valenzuela then saw Mr. Jaramillo enter, and immediately noticed that he had blood on his forehead and a knife in his right hand,” the report said, adding that Valenzuela pulled his private firearm, identified himself as a police officer and ordered Jaramillo multiple times to drop the knife.
RLT ran deeper into the restaurant followed by Jaramillo, but then turned around and started running toward the front door, passing Valenzuela as he did, the report found. Jaramillo, his arm still raised over his hand with the knife in his hand, followed, trapping RLT near a group of customers, including children, “huddled against the side wall,” the report stated.
Valenzuela fired three times, and Jaramillo fell to the floor, fatally wounded, the report said.
“Officer Valenzuela was unaware of the prior fight at Chipotle,” Hayden concluded. “He knew only what he saw: a fast-evolving incident in which Mr. Jaramillo, armed with a knife, pursued a younger male into a crowded restaurant and tried to stab him a few feet from the officer despite commands to stop. Therefore, my office has closed this tragic matter without criminal charges.”
John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him @JREbosglobe.
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