Editor’s Note: the story has been updated to reflect that the man was a passenger when the road rage incident was first reported.
San Diego Police shot and killed a 33-year-old man in Parking Lot 1 on the Mesa College campus during the early morning of Aug. 2 after the man killed a police dog that was attempting to apprehend him following a brief car chase.
SDPD responded to a report of a car shooting around 1:23 a.m. near the 3500 block of Ben Street and then followed the white Tesla to the Mesa campus, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. At some point, according to the sheriffs investigating the shooting, the man switched from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat before being shot.
According to the sheriff, the man, whose name has not yet been released pending notification to his family, then abandoned his vehicle and police officers found him along Mesa College Circle.
The officers gave the man several warnings to put down the handgun that he was holding, but police indicated he did not reply. After this, police deployed a K9 officer, Sir, toward the man. According to the sheriff, the suspect drew his gun as one police officer simultaneously drew his firearm, wounding the man in his upper-left torso.
An ambulance took the suspect to Scripps Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:20 a.m. K9 Sir, a 4 ½-year-old Belgian Malinois who joined the SDPD in March 2022, was rushed to the VCA Emergency Animal Hospital on Hotel Circle Drive but also died.
Sheriff’s investigators are still trying to determine what led to the initial shooting. “We believe it started on the roadways, one vehicle possibly trying to pass another vehicle or some kind of incident,” sheriff’s homicide Lt. Joseph Jarjura told OnScene TV and other reporters.
The San Diego County Sheriff Department’s Homicide Unit will investigate the shooting, per a county protocol that requires their department to review any shootings involving SDPD officers.
Parking Lots 2 and 3 were closed on campus for much of the day on Aug. 2, while portions of Parking Lot 1 opened around 9:12 a.m., according to a statement from the college’s website. The shooting shocked the Mesa community, but classes and work proceeded as normal.
“I am deeply saddened by the series of events that took place on our campus early Tuesday,” said Mesa President Dr. Ashanti Hands in a statement. “Experiencing the loss of life in a college setting is profoundly unsettling as our purpose is centered around nurturing potential, dreams and the future of our community. Such incidents remind us of the preciousness of life and time, and how crucial it is to support our students (and each other) by creating conditions that matter for them to feel seen, valued, supported, and encouraged to walk boldly in their purpose, every chance we get.”
Editor’s Note: This is an ongoing story that will be updated as new information becomes available.