Deputies fatally shoot man they were trying to evict from apartment in San Diego

Two San Diego County sheriff’s court services deputies fatally shot a man they were trying to evict from his apartment near downtown San Diego Friday morning, authorities said.

The 47-year-old man, who had told the deputies he would shoot them if they came inside, retrieved a replica handgun from his room when the deputies forced their way into the home, said San Diego Police Department homicide Lt. Mike Holden.

“My impression is that it happened fairly quickly,” Holden said of the violent confrontation.

The man’s name was not released.

He said San Diego Sheriff’s Department deputies went to the two-story apartment building on Second Avenue, south of Hawthorn Street, about 7:50 a.m. to serve the eviction notice. Holden did not know why the man was being evicted.

Deputies knocked on the man’s door, identified themselves and announced their intention to evict him, Holden said.

The man answered through a security door that if they entered, he would kill them, Holden said. The deputies pried open the locked door and went in anyway. The man ran into his bedroom and came out holding the replica handgun.

After he was shot, the man ran back into his bedroom, where deputies found him suffering from several gunshot wounds. They started first aid until paramedics arrived and took him to a hospital, Holden said.

Investigators later recovered either an airsoft or a BB air pistol in the bedroom, Holden said.

He said that in the early stages of the investigation, it appears the man did not fire the weapon.

No one else was in the apartment at the time.

Mike Minier, who lives several blocks away, said he was walking his dog when he noticed the flashing lights of a sheriff’s patrol car and turned south on Second Avenue to take a closer look.

He said the deputies thought the weapon was a semi-automatic handgun.

Both deputies fired, striking the man several times. Medics took him to a trauma center, where he died. The deputies were not injured.

Repard writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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