911 call: Wife of U.S. marshal investigated in controversial shooting feared he would shoot her

Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com - Friday, November 12, 2010
The wife of a deputy U.S. marshal who was involved in a controversial off-duty shooting in 2008 called a friend from the scene and told him she was afraid her husband was going to shoot her too, according to a copy of a 911 call obtained by The Times. The male caller tells authorities he received a call from a hysterical Alexandra Itkowitz, who allegedly told him, "Matt’s gonna kill me." After he lost contact with Alexandra Itkowitz, the man called 911 to check on her well-being. Matthew Itkowitz told police he shot 26-year-old Ryan Gonzalez in the midst of being beaten and threatened with a gun. Prosecutors determined that Matthew Itkowitz's description of the shooting was "patently inconsistent" with video surveillance footage of the incident. The district attorney's office declined to file charges, however, stating that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Matthew Itkowitz was not acting in self-defense. The deadly encounter was the subject of a Times investigation published this week. The story found that witnesses' accounts of what happened before the shooting vary. But footage from a surveillance camera, which has never been made public, calls into question the deputy marshal's claim of self-defense. A copy of the tape was reviewed by The Times. Listen to the full audio tape here. Watch the full video here. -- Scott Glover