In January 2025, Glendale police officers were searching for a domestic violence suspect when they located 46-year-old Dillon Siebeck in a city park. Despite Siebeck not matching the description of the suspect — a 23-year-old Latino man — officer Juan Gonzales shot and killed him.
On Dec. 31, the killing resulted in a wrongful death suit from Siebeck’s family against Gonzales, his supervisor and the city. Glendale also fired Gonzales in July, though the city did not reveal the firing until nearly six months later, when the lawsuit was filed. Gonzales appealed his termination to the city’s Personnel Review Board, which voted to reinstate him, but the interim city manager overruled that recommendation and sent Gonzales packing. Gonzales had been with the department since 2014.
Now the city is getting hit with a second lawsuit over the shooting, although this time it’s Gonzales suing to get his job back. On Jan. 9, attorneys for Gonzales filed suit against the city in Maricopa County Superior Court, asking a judge to reinstate him as a police officer and award him back pay and other damages…