A La Habra detective fired two rounds at a Seal Beach man during a pre-dawn federal search warrant raid in February 2024, hitting him once in the shoulder. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office cleared the officer. Then it dropped the criminal charges against the man it had shot — concluding he may have reasonably believed armed intruders were breaking into his home.

The DA’s findings, made public this month in a letter to La Habra Police Chief Adam Foster, describe a 74-second sequence at a Seal Beach residence that left a 25-year-old man wounded and raised questions about what everyone involved actually knew.

At 5:59 a.m. on February 7, 2024, a 16-person team from the La Habra Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the California Department of Cannabis Control, and the OC Probation Office arrived at a residence on the 4000 block of Almond Avenue. They were there to serve a federal search warrant. The reason for the warrant is redacted in the DA’s letter.

The officers wore tactical vests — what law enforcement calls “C” uniforms — with “POLICE” printed in large white letters on the back and badges on the left chest. Not standard uniforms. The lights were off. It was still dark.

At 6:00:41 a.m., agents knocked four times, announced “Police search warrant, open the door,” knocked four more times and announced again. Ten seconds later, Detective Nick McDermott began battering the front door with a ram. He hit it eleven times. The door didn’t open.

Gustavo Adolfo Bahena, who lived in the master bedroom above the garage, appeared at a second-floor window.

“Stop. Stop that,” he yelled, according to investigators.

Detective Anthony Luster, who was positioned outside covering McDermott during the breach attempt, heard the voice and pointed his handgun at the window. He could see part of Bahena’s upper body. Luster told OCDA investigators he saw Bahena holding a dark-colored handgun in his left hand, barrel visible, pointed toward the officers at the front door.

At 6:01:10 a.m., McDermott finally breached the door.

Four seconds later, Luster fired. He fired twice in under a second. Bahena was hit in the left shoulder.

At 6:02:50 a.m., Bahena walked out of the residence on his own, bleeding heavily. Officers handcuffed him and began treating his wounds. Paramedics arrived 12 minutes later and transported him to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, where he survived.

When OCDA investigators searched Bahena’s bedroom, a loaded Glock Model 19 was sitting in an open dresser drawer next to the window. DNA on the gun matched Bahena. The window screen had an apparent bullet hole in one corner. There was blood on the floor in front of the dresser.

The DA filed charges against Bahena in February 2024 — assault on a peace officer with a semiautomatic firearm, plus two counts of possessing a large-capacity magazine.

Then prosecutors watched the body camera footage again.

By April 2025, the charges were gone.

The DA’s explanation: it was early, it was dark, the officers weren’t in standard uniforms. Home invasion robberies in California have gotten widespread news coverage. Bahena had marijuana and cash in the house — items that make a residence a robbery target. Prosecutors concluded a jury would likely find his belief that he was being burglarized was reasonable enough to support a self-defense claim the prosecution couldn’t beat.

The large-capacity magazine charge fell apart separately: the magazine might have been bought legally during a brief 2019 window when a federal court temporarily struck down California’s ban before an appellate court reimposed it.

In a letter signed February 19, 2026, DA Todd Spitzer cleared Detective Luster as well. The conclusion: Luster saw an armed man above him and his colleagues, in a tactically superior position, not complying with commands. He had four seconds to decide. The DNA evidence and the gun’s location corroborated his account. A jury, the DA found, would not convict him.

The letter was issued roughly two years after the shooting because DA policy holds off on releasing officer-involved shooting findings until any related criminal case is resolved.