VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) – Authorities are investigating a deputy-involved shooting that wounded a man outside of a church in Vista Sunday.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department said it received a report at around 12:30 p.m. regarding a man with a gun entering Iglesia Ni Cristo in the 1400 block of Calle Jules. It took less than 10 minutes for deputies to arrive on the scene.
The 77-year-old man was threatening to harm himself inside the church, according to sheriff's officials. Deputies on scene learned some members of the church were still inside the building when he entered, according to a San Diego Police Department press release.
The man exited the church with a gun in hand. Deputies immediately demanded the man lower his weapon, but he kept walking into the parking lot and toward the deputies, SDPD's investigation found.
A deputy then opened fire, the sheriff's department confirmed to ABC 10News.
"Deputies attempted to give him verbal commands asking him to drop the firearm, and unfortunately he did not. At that point, one deputy fired one round from his issued rifle, striking the man in his legs," John Dungan, the acting lieutenant for the San Diego Police Department's Homicide Unit, says.
Officials says deputies applied a tourniquet on the man's leg until paramedics arrived. He was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive his injuries.
Investigators say no other people were injured in this shooting, and SDPD is the lead agency on this case.
According to SDPD's release, the deputy who pulled the trigger has been on the force for about three years. Additionally, he works as a patrol deputy reporting from the Vista substation.
Law enforcement was on the scene investigating the shooting for at least six hours Sunday. The identity of the suspect is not being released at this time, police say.
