San Diego police officers fatally shot a man in Golden Hill Monday following a vehicle pursuit that started in San Ysidro, authorities said.
The shooting occurred just before 4 p.m. on 26th Street near E Street after the suspect had crashed the Ford F150 truck he’d been driving into a yard, said sheriff’s Lt. Juan Márquez. The Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident as part of a countywide agreement so departments don’t investigate their own officer-involved shootings.
The incident began about 3:20 p.m. with a report of a man with a rifle concealed in his jacket on Sanger Place near Blanche Street in San Ysidro, Márquez said. He put his rifle away in the Ford pickup but allegedly retrieved a handgun. He then got into an argument with a bicyclist and fired at least one round into the ground in the cyclist’s direction, Márquez said. The rider was not struck.
SWAT and K-9 officers were called to the scene.
A witness told authorities that the gunman then got into the Ford pickup. When San Diego police officers arrived at the scene, they ordered the gunman to surrender, but he instead drove off, Márquez said.
Officers pursued him up Interstate 5, where at one point the suspect stopped and police again tried to get him to surrender, but he sped away again, the lieutenant said. The chase, which lasted about 30 minutes total, wound up Interstate 15 and onto surface streets, where he is believed to have hit a few cars before ending up on 26th.
The driver arrived at a dead end and reversed into a police vehicle driven by a K-9 officer, causing the officer’s airbag to deploy, Márquez said. The officer was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, and the dog was unharmed.
The driver then sped off but crashed into a pergola in a nearby front yard. Another police vehicle pulled behind his truck, and when he allegedly revved his engine, two officers inside fired their weapons, Márquez said.
The shots, from a rifle and a handgun, struck the suspect in the truck, Márquez said. Officers pulled the wounded driver from the Ford and rendered aid, but he died at the scene. Neither the suspect’s name nor the names of the officers who fired were immediately released.
A rifle and handgun were found in the pickup, Márquez said.
Josh Gonzales, a high school volleyball coach who lives on 26th, said he was sitting at home with his girlfriend when he heard police sirens and a crash down the street.
“I heard a big crash and then maybe 10 to 15 gunshots,” Gonzales said. “After the gunshots, police swarmed the car and did their thing.”
“We just didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire, and we just stayed inside,” he added.
The intersection of 26th and E streets was shut down into the night as sheriff’s detectives worked to investigate the scene.
