By MES Dispatch staff
The Briefing
• A passenger opened fire on San Diego County sheriff’s deputies and a reserve officer during a traffic stop in San Marcos, California, Feb. 18, striking no officers before being shot and killed, authorities said.
• The stop began shortly after 9 p.m. when a deputy stopped a vehicle with inconsistent registration and possible signs it was stolen.
• The passenger armed himself with a semiautomatic handgun after backup arrived and deputies tried to secure the driver.
• Deputies and a Palomar College reserve officer returned fire, fatally wounding the suspect, and no deputies were injured, officials said.
SAN MARCOS, CA — A traffic stop in San Marcos escalated into a deadly encounter Feb. 18 when a passenger in a vehicle pulled a handgun and fired at San Diego County sheriff’s deputies and a Palomar College reserve police officer, law enforcement officials said.
The stop was initiated just after 9 p.m. when a deputy noticed inconsistent registration information and possible signs the vehicle was stolen, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
As additional deputies and the reserve officer arrived, the passenger rolled up his window and retrieved a semiautomatic handgun from the vehicle’s floorboard, officials said.
Deputies removed the 21-year-old driver from the vehicle and ordered the 33-year-old passenger to drop the weapon. When he refused and raised the firearm, deputies deployed Tasers, which were ineffective, before the passenger fired rounds toward them.
Responding deputies and the reserve officer returned fire, striking the passenger. Deputies attempted to render aid after pulling him from the vehicle, but he died at the scene, authorities said.
No deputies were injured in the exchange, and the San Diego Police Department is investigating the incident under a county agreement that places oversight of deputy-involved shootings with an outside agency.