Former Ceres police officer cleared in shooting at Modesto’s Beyer Park

The former Ceres police officer who fatally shot the man whose wife he was with in a Modesto park late at night has been cleared of any legal wrongdoing, according to a letter released by the District Attorney’s Office on Friday.

Thomas Miller was let go from the Ceres Police Department about a month after he shot Jason Moland in Beyer Park on March 29, 2015.

Miller had met Moland’s wife at the park earlier in the evening, according to the letter. The wife’s name is redacted from the letter, which was sent to the Modesto Police Department to inform investigators that the shooting was determined to have been justified. Modesto is the investigating agency.

Miller and Moland’s wife went to Starbucks and then returned to the park and were sitting in the playground area at the south end of the park when they were approached by Moland about 10:20 p.m.

Miller told Modesto police investigators that he saw a man walking toward them with something in his hand. He removed his off-duty firearm from its holder and held it behind his back as the man neared.

“Miller said the suspect appeared to be holding a gun and said, ‘What’s up, mother f---er’,” reads the letter. “The suspect began to raise the hand which held the gun and Officer Miller shot him.”

The gun Moland had was later determined to be a BB gun, “indistinguishable from a real gun without close observation.”

One round from Miller’s gun hit Moland. Miller was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Moland when Modesto police officers arrived as Moland’s wife sat nearby crying. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Moland’s wife told investigators she didn’t know how he knew to find her at the park. She had told him she was out with a friend and thought he was at home with their children.

Modesto police did a security check on the couple’s home after the shooting and found the children there sleeping.

After examining Moland’s phone, investigators learned he had installed an iPhone locator application just 15 minutes before the shooting.

“It could not be determined if (Moland) was able to sync to (his wife’s) phone to determine her phone’s location, but he was at her physical location within five minutes of using the application,” the letter reads.

There was no digital evidence on Miller’s phone or Moland’s wife’s phone to suggest they lured him to the park, according to the letter.

There were circumstances to suggest Moland was concerned about whether his wife was having an affair but no evidence that he expressed this concern to anyone or that he knew Tommy Miller was with his wife at “Beyer Park the night (he) was killed.”

Moland was a security guard who aspired to be a police officer. He’d applied to several local agencies and was in the background check stage of application with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department when he was shot.

This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 2:01 PM with the headline "Former Ceres police officer cleared in shooting at Modesto’s Beyer Park."