Man pulled out gun inside theater, shot by police, authorities say

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A San Diego police officer shot a 20-year-old Escondido man inside a movie theater after the man allegedly pointed a gun at the officer.

There were patrons inside the theater when the shooting took place but none were injured.

San Diego Police homicide Capt. Terry McManus said the officers on scene feared for their lives when the man allegedly pulled out the weapon. ‘And more importantly, they thought the lives of others were in jeopardy,” McManus said.

The suspected gunman, Tom Billodeaux, had fled into a theater in the Carmel Mountain Ranch neighborhood when police responded about 2:30 p.m. to reports of a man assaulting a woman in a parking lot, police said. Billodeaux had shown up at his girlfriend’s workplace and physically attacked her, police said.

Once inside the theater, police found Billodeaux pretending to be a movie patron. Ordered by police to show his hands, he initially put his hands in the air but then lowered them quickly to his lap and raised a gun at an officer, according to Lt. Ernie Herbert of the homicide unit.

Billodeaux was wounded in the arm and chest and taken to a hospital. He will be booked into county jail once he is released from the hospital.

The officer is described as an 18-month veteran of the Police Department.

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--Tony Perry in San Diego