San Diego deputies shoot, kill shovel-wielding murder suspect

A murder suspect was shot and killed Monday night after advancing "in a rapid manner" on San Diego County sheriff's deputies while armed with a shovel, officials said.

The man ignored repeated demands to drop the shovel, according to the Sheriff's Department. He was declared dead at the scene in rural Alpine, east of San Diego.

Officials said the incident began when deputies responded about 6 p.m. to a call about an abandoned car with its flashing lights on. The murder suspect was found hiding in a nearby carport, officials said.

The dead man was described only as a suspect in a murder investigation begun earlier by San Diego police. On Monday afternoon, police had issued a bulletin about a 61-year-old man wanted in connection with the stabbing death of his 51-year-old wife, saying he was armed and dangerous.

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Comments

[scott]

a suspect so they shoot him because he had a shovel?
thats guilty until proven innocent to me.
dont they carry tasers?

[mytwocents]

Lots of good opinions on this topic. Yes a warning shot sounds like a good idea at first but that bullet would end up somewhere and is more of a liability. Shooting to wound also if there was a good distance between officer and suspect just in case a second shot would be needed. More than anything this seems like it was more of a modified case of suicide by cop. If he was guilty he probably would not want to be taken into custody, hence charging with a shovel. Heck I would not want to spend a single minute incarcerated, I would charge an officer with a toothpick.

[mdo]

when a cops only way of unarming a 61 year old man with a shovel is to kill him, we as a society are in bad shape. I wouldn't be that afraid for my life, and I'm 57, not 27.

[Willy]

If someone is attacking you you have split second to decide if you want to die or survive.The man wants to hurt you so you have the right to depend your self.T he cop was trained to shoot to stop the criminal which is to hit the big target that they wont miss,the chest.If you disabled this guy its more lawsuit so its better this way

[A Citizen]

All you bleeding heart liberals, the suspect was a murder suspect not grandpa Jones working in the garden. Nothing I read said the officers had tasers with them at the time of the shooting. Use common sense, if someone comes out of the dark armed with a shovel and attacks Im going to shoot and live. What person is going to attack a law enforcement officer with a shovel ? In this case a murder suspect ! People get real

[JustCause]

I don't feel that a taser would have worked in this case because that would have placed the cop in a very close range to the man with the shovel. If the taser didn't work then he would have to deploy his gun and by then the shovel would have most likely smashed his head in. As far as bean bag I don't recall ever seeing cops walking around with them I think they are kept in their police cars. In order to use a bean bag the officer would have turn his back to the man with the shovel, go to his car, fumble with his keys, open his trunk (in the mean while have lost sight of the man with the shovel) grab the bean bag and deploy it. If he would have done all the I feel that the headlines would have read "OFFICER KILLED BY SHOVEL". A shovel is about 3-4 ft, a man's swing adds another 3 ft, add in the speed if walking or running way to close.