A man who allegedly threatened a former girlfriend with a gun and kidnapped their infant daughter at the woman’s Chollas View-area apartment suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds a short time later when a San Diego Police Department officer opened fire on him, officials reported Monday.
The events that led to the law enforcement gunfire began shortly before 10:30 p.m. Sunday, when the suspect showed up at the woman’s residence in the 400 block of 47th Street, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, which investigates shootings involving SDPD personnel as part of a regional agreement designed to prevent conflicts of interest.
The victim made a 911 call to report that a former boyfriend was outside her home, saying he would shoot through the front door if she would not let him in, sheriff’s Lt. Michael Krugh said. When she complied with his demands, he threatened to shoot her, then snatched their baby daughter and walked out of the residence.
Seeing arriving police officers, the suspect ran off through the apartment complex, crossed a set of trolley tracks, ran across a parking lot at 47th Street Trolley Station and entered a residential complex in the 200 block of 47th Street. Police soon found him there, hiding in a patch of shrubbery.
When the man refused orders to disarm himself and surrender, an officer opened fire, wounding him at least once, according to Krugh.
“It was (then) learned the suspect was holding his daughter during the … shooting,” the lieutenant said. “The child was unharmed and was returned to her family.”
Paramedics took the suspect, whose name remained unavailable Monday afternoon, to a hospital, where he underwent surgery and was listed in stable condition.
The police shooting was the first of two to occur in San Diego within a roughly 24-hour period.
Shortly before 11 a.m. Monday, at least one officer opened fire on a man who was assaulting someone with a knife in the area of Friars Road and Morena Boulevard in Mission Valley. Whether the suspect survived his wounds remained unclear Monday afternoon.
Updated at 6:08 p.m. Monday, May 20, 2024
City News Service contributed to this article.