A man involved in an hourslong SWAT standoff in Santee was shot and killed by three sheriff’s deputies on Sunday after he fired at deputies, striking an armored vehicle parked in front of a home, San Diego police said.
The shooting occurred on Willowgrove Avenue, north of Mission Gorge Road, where the armed man had holed up after fleeing a nearby home on the same street shortly before noon. The time of the shooting was not immediately released.
The incident began when someone called the Sheriff’s Office to report an assault with a firearm and criminal threats at a home on Willowgrove. The victims, who had left the home for their own safety, told deputies the armed man had gone to a nearby house across the street, still carrying a handgun, San Diego homicide Lt. Arturo Swadener said.
Deputies got the cellphone number of the man and called him in hopes of negotiating a “peaceful resolution,” but the man refused to speak with them and remained barricaded in the home, Swadener said.
SWAT deputies and members of the sheriff’s crisis negotiation team were called out, and they, too, tried to persuade the man to come out of the home, but he refused.
At some point, deputies heard a gunshot from inside the residence. Fearing the man had shot himself, SWAT deputies breached the door and sent a drone inside the home to see if the man needed medical assistance.
“They saw the suspect was further barricading himself and deployed chemical agents into the house,” Swadener said.
The man then came out the front door and fired at the deputies, Swadener said, with rounds striking the armored vehicle. Three deputies fired back, hitting the man. He died before he could be taken to a hospital.
His name has not been released. It is not known if the man lived on the street or what led up to the initial 911 call.
Swadener said the three deputies involved in the shooting had been employed between nine and 15 years with the department. All three were equipped with body-worn cameras which were activated during the shooting, he said.
The names of the deputies involved in the shooting have not been released. No deputies were injured in the incident.
San Diego police are investigating the shooting under a countywide memorandum of understanding that ensures agencies do not investigate shootings involving their own officers.
Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to contact homicide investigators at 619-531-2293.