The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department is investigating after a San Diego police officer fatally shot a man just before 7 a.m. July 6 in La Jolla’s Bird Rock neighborhood.
A statement from the sheriff’s office said the San Diego Police Department received multiple calls about a man with a knife causing a disturbance in the street in the 5400 block of La Jolla Boulevard.
People who posted on social media said the shooting happened near the CVS Pharmacy at the roundabout at La Jolla Boulevard and Midway Street.
The sheriff’s statement said SDPD officers arrived and saw a man in his 20s next to a vehicle stopped on the road. As officers approached, the man walked toward them with a knife, according to the statement.
The officers drew their service weapons and told the man to drop the knife. One officer fired, striking the man.
Officers provided medical aid and paramedics took the man to a hospital, where he died. No officers were injured in the confrontation, authorities said.
Neither the man nor the officer who fired were identified.
La Jolla resident James Rudolph said he witnessed much of the altercation and said “the man was standing in the street, screaming and gesticulating.”
When officers arrived, the man was brandishing a knife and was agitated, Rudolph said.
“It was clear the police were on high alert, likely because the calls described a man with a weapon,” he said.
The man ignored the commands to put down the knife and continued moving “in a menacing manner,” Rudolph said. “As he got closer, the officer fired — if I remember correctly — three shots in rapid succession.”
A local resident posted on social media that she heard the shooting and that it sounded like “pop pop pop.”
Another resident posted that she saw a man sitting in a car at the roundabout at about 6:30 a.m. blocking the road and then got out and began “pulling things out of his trunk and changing his pants, ranting and raving.”
“Glad I kept walking,” she wrote.
The officer who fired the shots has been with the Police Department for three years and is assigned to the Northern Division, which includes La Jolla, according to the sheriff’s statement.
As is protocol with shootings involving San Diego police, the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Unit was called to the scene to investigate.
“At this stage … the motivation and circumstances of the shooting are still under investigation,” the Sheriff’s Department stated. “Detectives are currently gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses and examining the circumstances surrounding the shooting.”
Joe Terry, president of the Bird Rock Community Council, said “Bird Rock is a safe neighborhood, but disturbing things can occur anywhere. We were impressed by how rapidly the SDPD responded and regret a life was lost.”
When the Homicide Unit completes its investigation, it will be reviewed by the county district attorney’s office to determine whether the officers involved bear any criminal liability for their actions, the sheriff’s office said.
The San Diego Police Department also will conduct an administrative investigation into the officer’s use of his weapon.
Anyone with information about the case can call the sheriff’s Homicide Unit at (858) 285-6330 or (858) 565-5200, or San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. ♦
