An officer draws his gun Saturday while entering a Tierrasanta apartment complex where a man with a gun had threatened firefighters. Photo credit: OnScene.TV
Authorities Thursday publicly identified three San Diego police officers who opened fire on a Tierrasanta resident Saturday when he allegedly pointed a handgun at them.
Officers Jason Langley, Cassie Louret and Austin Thomas shot at the 62-year-old man in a hallway outside his apartment in the 11200 block of Tierrasanta Boulevard shortly after noon, said Lt. Chris Steffen of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
The Sheriff’s department investigates officer-involved shootings by San Diego police under an April agreement between the agencies.
It remains unclear if the officers’ gunfire wounded the resident, whose name has not been released. Following the shooting, he ran back into his apartment, exited out a back patio and fled onto a walkway behind the complex.
At that point, a single gunshot sounded, and deputies in a Sheriff’s patrol helicopter circling above saw the suspect lying motionless on the footpath, Steffen said.
Police then approached him and determined that died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Autopsy results have yet to be released.
The events that led to the shootings began with a report of a possible fire in the man’s apartment, according to Steffen.
Finding smoke emanating from the locked residence, firefighters forced entry and saw the suspect sitting on a couch, pointing a gun in their direction.
They retreated, and San Diego police moved in to try to make contact with the resident. Officers were positioned in the hallway outside his apartment when he allegedly emerged, wielding a gun.
Langley has been employed by the SDPD for eight years, Louret for 17 years and Thomas for one year. They will serve desk duty pending completion of investigations in the case, as is standard procedure in all instances of officer-involved shootings in San Diego.
– City News Service