SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Authorities Wednesday released video footage of a police shooting that killed a man who allegedly threatened construction workers and a pest-control employee with a pistol in Miramar Ranch North and then pointed the weapon at officers trying to defuse the volatile situation.
Two SWAT-team snipers shot 59-year-old Eric Kulakow during a residential standoff early on the afternoon of March 25, killing him at the scene, according to the San Diego Police Department.
The events that led to the law enforcement gunfire began shortly after noon that day, when police got a report of a man pointing a handgun at a construction crew in the 11600 block of Angelique Street.
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While officers were en route to the neighborhood just east of Interstate 15 and south of Scripps Poway Parkway, Kulakow allegedly proceeded to threaten an Orkin employee with the weapon. The victim took cover behind his work truck, hunkering down there for a time before climbing into its covered cargo bed through a back window.
Officers arrived to find Kulakow standing, barefoot, in a driveway on Little Silver Court, wearing earmuffs and holding a handgun. Video images shot aboard a patrol helicopter show Kulakow alternately pointing the weapon at the Orkin vehicle and raising it skyward, ignoring the airborne crew's loudspeaker commands to disarm himself.
As the impasse unfolded, special weapons and tactics personnel took positions nearby, one in a field and another on a nearby balcony. Other officers gathered at the nearby corner of Angelique Street and Cypress Canyon Park Drive, preparing to make their way to the pest-control company vehicle so they could safely evacuate the worker from the line of fire.
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About 45 minutes into the standoff, Kulakow walked a short distance west, to the intersection of Little Silver Court and Angelique Street, where he allegedly pointed his gun toward the police rescue team. At that point, SWAT Officers Brandon Jordan and Chris Lingenhol opened fire on the suspect with their sniper rifles, sending him collapsing to the ground, his gun landing at his feet.
What prompted Kulakow's alleged threatening behavior remains unclear.
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