A gunman who fatally shot one person and wounded three others, including a woman he took hostage following a fight outside a City Heights apartment building, was shot and killed by police, authorities said Monday.
Officers were initially sent to an address in the 3800 block of Marlborough Avenue near Wightman Street around 9:15 p.m. Sunday to investigate multiple reports of a disturbance in which someone was armed with a gun.
San Diego police Capt. Brian Ahearn told reporters that the suspect was involved in a fist fight and immediately afterward retrieved a gun from a parked car, chased a man around, then opened fire on several people in the courtyard of an apartment complex.
Four people were shot. Some suffered graze and abdominal wounds, and one person was shot in the head, authorities said.
Arriving officers came upon the suspect holding a wounded woman in a headlock and dragging her toward the passenger side of his vehicle, Ahearn said. The suspect was told to drop his weapon, but he instead pointed it at the hostage and made statements indicating he would hurt her, officers or both, which prompted an officer to fatally shoot him.
"This was very, very complicated," Ahearn said. "The officers were faced with a complex situation with an armed suspect who had already shot multiple victims and had taken a victim hostage."
The suspect died at the scene, police said.
Four people were taken to local hospitals to be treated for bullet wounds, and one later died, San Diego police Lt. Mike Holden said. Their names and that of the suspect were withheld pending family notification.
The officer who shot the suspect has worked for the San Diego Police Department for 12 years, Holden said. He was not injured.
Another officer-involved shooting early Monday put a man suspected of robbing an Encinitas restaurant in the hospital.
Deputies responding to a reported armed holdup at El Pueblo restaurant on Birmingham Drive in Encinitas about 5:30 a.m. spotted a man matching the description of the bandit riding a blue motorcycle in the area of Santa Fe Drive and El Camino Real, about a mile from the eatery, according to sheriff's officials.
Refusing to yield, the rider led a short pursuit that ended when he lost control of his two-wheeler and crashed near the entrance to an apartment building in the 1700 block of El Camino Real in Cardiff, Lt. Kenneth Nelson said. The suspect then got up and ran off.
A deputy gave chase on foot and caught up with the suspect, later identified as 53-year-old Robert Parkin of Encinitas, nearby.
"There was a confrontation between the deputy and the suspect," Nelson said. "During the confrontation, the deputy fired multiple rounds at the suspect, striking him several times in the lower portion of his body."
Medics took Parkin to a hospital for treatment of wounds that were not considered life-threatening. No other injuries were reported.
At the site of the shooting, deputies found a silver pistol that Parkin allegedly had brandished while committing the robbery and cash believed to have been stolen during the crime.
"Once Parkin has received treatment for his injuries, he will be booked into jail on multiple felony charges," the lieutenant said.
