Off-duty San Bernardino police officer arrested, accused of shooting gun outside bar
An off-duty San Bernardino police officer was arrested on suspicion of shooting his service pistol into the air outside a bar near Lake Arrowhead early Sunday.
Fidel Ocampo-Rodarte, 24, was identified as a San Bernardino police officer by city officials in a news release Monday. He was off-duty at the time of the incident, the officials said.
Deputies were called around 1:50 a.m. Sunday to several reports of shots in the 27000 block of Highway 189, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
They learned that Ocampo-Rodarte had been drinking at the Dogwood Tavern with friends, deputies said.
At some point, he exited the bar, pulled the handgun from his waistband and fired several shots into the air, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
“Moments later, while in the business parking lot, [Ocampo-Rodarte] fired several more rounds into the air,” deputies said. “[Ocampo-Rodarte] and his friends then fled the scene in multiple vehicles.”
The deputies conducted “an extensive check” of the area but did not find Ocampo-Rodarte, who turned himself in at the Twin Peaks Station later that day, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
The stabbing was reported at 2:06 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The victim, a man, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities recovered multiple firearms after serving a search warrant at his residence, deputies said.
Ocampo-Rodarte was booked into the West Valley Detention Center on suspicion of negligent discharge of a firearm, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
He’d been with the department for three years at the time of his arrest and has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal investigation, city officials said.
“I’m extremely disappointed at what I have been told so far and what I saw on a copy of the business surveillance video,” Chief Darren Goodman said in a statement Monday.
“The conduct is not something that is fitting of a San Bernardino police officer, or any officer for that matter. While I will withhold judgment until the investigation has concluded, I will tell you that this is not what I expect, and this is not conduct that represents the vast majority of our officers.”
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department’s Twin Peaks Station at (909) 336-0600.
Anonymous tips can be submitted to the We-Tip hotline at (800) 782-7463.
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