SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Police Department released body camera video showing a response that culminated in an officer-involved shooting of a man who barricaded himself in an apartment and set it on fire before charging officers with a knife.
The June 23 incident began when a 911 caller reported that a person had been assaulted in an apartment complex. The caller, an apartment manager, reported that a woman was attacked by her son.
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The caller then put the victim on the phone. She stated that her son was experiencing a mental health crisis and had armed himself with a knife and a baseball bat before barricading himself in her apartment.
The victim also stated that the suspect warned her not to call police or he would harm her, himself and police officers.
Officers responded to the scene and contacted the victim. They then repeatedly attempted to contact the suspect by phone from outside the apartment.
After the suspect did not answer phone calls, officers issued commands for the suspect to come outside the apartment.
At that time, the suspect began throwing objects from the apartment window at cruisers. One cruiser’s rear-view mirror was broken in the incident, while the windshield on another was smashed.
Officers then witnessed smoke coming from inside the apartment. As several officers went door-to-door to begin evacuating residents, others began efforts to breach the apartment door, which had been blocked shut from the inside.
As officers pried the door open, they continued issuing commands for the suspect to exit the home. A K-9 was sent into the apartment, but could not locate the suspect as he was behind a closed door. Officers then requested firefighters as the smoke thickened.
Officers protected firefighters as they extinguished the flames. They remained unable to locate the suspect due to the heavy smoke.
Drone footage shows officers entering the building after some smoke cleared and locating the door behind which the suspect was hiding.
The video shows officers breaching the door with a sledgehammer, at which time the suspect immediately swung a knife out of the doorway as he emerged.
Officers then fired shots as the man moved toward them with the knife blade.
The officers on scene immediately rendered medical aid to the suspect. He was transported to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The victim as well as two officers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the scene.
The incident remains under investigation.
