SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Authorities Wednesday publicly identified the 20-year-old man fatally wounded by a fusillade of law enforcement gunfire when he allegedly pointed a BB pistol at San Diego Police Department personnel at the end of a roadside standoff next to a church in a Stockton-area neighborhood.
Kevin Garcia Gonzalez of San Diego was sitting inside a car in the 300 block of 31st Street when five officers and a police sergeant opened fire on him, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office, which investigates uses of lethal force on the part of SDPD personnel under terms of a countywide agreement designed to prevent conflicts of interest.
The events that led to the deadly police gunfire began shortly after 10 a.m. Friday, when a civilian reported seeing a man pointing a gun at someone from inside a Ford Fusion near the intersection of K and 31st streets, west of state Route 15 and south of state Route 94.
Officers arrived in the area to find Gonzalez inside the car along with a female companion. The personnel approached, guns drawn, and safely removed the female occupant, sheriff's Lt. Juan Marquez said.
For about a half-hour, Gonzalez refused to comply with orders to disarm himself and surrender, according to police. He then allegedly pointed what appeared to be a black handgun toward officers through the open driver's window, drawing a hail of gunshots fired by SDPD Officers Diego Arellanes, Ruben Berton, Fernando Fernandez, Michael Hagen and Zane Sisneros, and Sgt. Edward Laurendeau.
At that point, officers sent in a service dog to check on Gonzalez before approaching the vehicle and pulling out the mortally wounded suspect. Paramedics took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
"Inside the vehicle, sheriff's homicide detectives recovered a BB gun that resembled a revolver," Marquez said.
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