SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A 59-year-old, who police said was threatening several people with a gun in a neighborhood near Scripps Ranch, was shot and killed by two officers with the San Diego SWAT team Tuesday afternoon.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Office is now taking over the investigation, which is standard protocol for an officer-involved shooting with SDPD.
Lt. Patrick Fox, with the sheriff's office, said around 12:09 p.m., SDPD officers responded to the scene in the 11600 block of Angelique St. after receiving reports of a man pointing a semi-automatic pistol at people in the area.
First, Fox learned the suspect had been pointing the weapon at construction workers, but they managed to escape the scene safely.
Then, the suspect directed his firearm at a pest control worker who "feared for his life and so he hid in the back of his work van," Fox said, adding all victims involved are safe and unharmed.
SDPD officers gave several commands to the suspect, but he did not follow any of them, according to Fox.
A witness, Emma Nelson, who lives right down the street from where the scene unfolded, described what that moment sounded like from her perspective.
“I heard lots of screaming," she said. "Get down, put your gun down, put the gun down, gun down! That’s when the helicopters were circling. That’s when I heard them say, 'Put your gun down! Hands up! Put your gun down! Surrender! And everything, but he still was not surrendering and he still was not listening.”
At that point, officers with the SWAT team arrived on scene. As they were attempting to evacuate victims from the area, Fox said the suspect approached with his gun.
Fox said two SWAT officers then fired their weapons at the suspect, killing the man at the scene. We're told at least one of the shots struck the man's head.
No officers were injured in the shooting. Fox said it does not appear the suspect fired any shots at officers.
That happened around 1:05 p.m., about an hour after the incident began.
There are still several questions left unanswered — Who is the suspect? Why was he threatening people in the first place?
All we know, so far, is the man was 59 years old and lived in that area. Fox did also mention officers found a knife on the suspect after the fatal shooting.
ABC 10News will share any more details as soon as they become available.
This is in the same area where a former San Diego-area sports director, Kyle Kraska, was shot in his car by a house painter Kraska hired to work on his home in 2015. A year later, the painter was convicted of premeditated attempted murder and sentenced to 39 years to life in state prison.
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