San Diego police Monday released a video showing events leading to the fatal shooting earlier this month of a man who allegedly opened fire on officers at a 4S Ranch-area strip mall, severely wounding an SDPD sergeant.
In the video, San Diego Police Department officers are seen entering the Ralphs grocery store in the 4S Commons Town Center, searching for the suspect, who police recently identified as 46-year-old Curtis Harris. Once located, Harris runs out with officers in pursuit.
The events that led to the deadly exchange of gunfire began about 10 p.m. Dec. 7 when police got a report that Harris, a San Diego resident, was the subject of an unserved restraining order, as well as a suspect in a vehicle theft and a domestic-abuse case, an SDPD lieutenant said.
Roughly 90 minutes later, officers found the allegedly stolen vehicle parked at 4S Commons Town Center.
“Officers developed a plan to serve the suspect with the (court order),” said Lt. Joseph Jarjura of the county Sheriff’s Department. “The suspect was inside (a) Ralphs store. Some officers attempted to contact him, but he ran out of the store. Other officers were outside of the store and in the parking lot.”
The Sheriff’s Department investigates uses of lethal force by SDPD personnel.
The volley of gunfire mortally wounded Harris and left SDPD Sgt. Anthony Elliott with a bullet wound to the head. Elliott was hospitalized in serious but stable condition.
In the SDPD video, viewers hear part of a 9-1-1 call, in which a woman tells the dispatcher that her car was stolen and that she knows its location, but the suspect has a gun.
According to written statements in the video, a police officer approached the stolen vehicle and found an unidentified woman sleeping in the passenger seat. Officers believed Harris was inside the store, and had a photo of him.
The video freezes on a scene of Harris “pointing a gun and firing at officers,” according to a caption. Then, someone identified as “Officer #1” fires several times at Harris, who then falls to the ground. At one point, an officer says “shots fired.”
Afterward, one officer says, “Hey, back up, back up, back up, back up — he’s still got a gun in his hand.” Another officer yells at Harris to drop the gun from his hand, as two other officers stand nearby with their weapons drawn.
According to SDPD, the video was paused at the moment Harris fired at the sergeant, striking him in his head.
The video contains a written statement that an SDPD sergeant ran to the front of the store before Harris exited. Harris then “jumped over a shopping cart corral wall, turned around and fired at the sergeant at point-blank range.”
After Officer #1 fired his gun, “he soon realized that the sergeant was not present with his fellow officers,” and “found the sergeant down in the cart corral with a gunshot wound to his head,” according to a statement in the video. Officers removed the gun Harris was holding, handcuffed him and rendered medical aid.
Paramedics took Harris to a trauma center, where he was pronounced dead about 1 a.m. Dec. 8, according to the county Sheriff’s Department.
The video shows a photo of the weapon Harris allegedly used, along with a second loaded magazine, and picture of a patrol car struck by a bullet fired from the gun.
Authorities on Friday publicly identified three SDPD officers who fatally shot the suspect: Officers Tanarat Crowe, Darrion Talalele and Trevor Wright fired on Harris, according to the county Sheriff’s Department.
A husband and father of two young sons, Elliott remains hospitalized, undergoing “critical care,” according to the San Diego Police Officers Association.
Contributions to aid the family during his recovery may be made to the Police Officers Research Association of California at www.porac.org/fundraiser/sdpd-sgtelliott or via GoFundMe.com at www.gofundme.com/f/go-fund-me-for-the-elliott-family.
City News Service contributed to this article.