Drone video of a lethal standoff that took the lifetime of a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy on Friday seems to seize the suspect being shot by one other deputy on the road earlier than the wounded officer is rushed into the again of a sheriff’s SUV.
The video was posted to YouTube late Friday by a model new account created the identical day. Its proprietor couldn’t instantly be reached for remark by The Occasions on Saturday.
The video offered the clearest image but of the encounter, which took the lifetime of Deputy Darnell Calhoun, 30. The sheriff’s division stated Calhoun was fatally shot after responding to an “unknown bother” name about 4:20 p.m. within the 18500 block of Hilldale Lane, a residential space in Lakeland Village.
Calhoun‘s widow is pregnant, and the previous San Diego police officer had switched companies final yr to be nearer to his household, which runs the favored Calhoun Household Texas Barbeque restaurant in Murrieta, officers stated.
Invoice Younger, president of the Riverside Sheriffs’ Assn., stated he was with the household Saturday, and that they have been experiencing “insufferable” grief and “reeling” together with the remainder of the deputy’s household, pals and regulation enforcement colleagues.
“His household and serving the group have been his world,” Younger stated. “Sadly now his unborn baby should develop up with no devoted and loving father.”
The sheriff’s division stated Calhoun was discovered with gunshot wounds by the second deputy to reach on the scene and who then shot the suspect. The video doesn’t present Calhoun being shot, however does present the suspect being hit.
The sheriff’s workplace introduced Calhoun’s demise Friday evening. He was the second Riverside County deputy to be fatally shot whereas on responsibility within the final two weeks, following the demise of Deputy Isaiah Cordero, 32. Cordero was fatally shot Dec. 29 throughout a site visitors cease in Jurupa Valley.
Neither the Riverside County Sheriff’s Division nor the Riverside County district legal professional’s workplace instantly responded to a request for remark relating to the YouTube video. Calhoun’s household couldn’t be reached for remark.
Younger stated it was “unhappy that somebody felt the necessity to publish” the video on-line, as “a household and Division try to grieve the lack of a hero and devoted public servant.” However he additionally stated the video confirmed “the dedication of the women and men of the Sheriff’s Division within the face of hazard.”
The video, which is greater than 4 minutes lengthy, doesn’t have sound. It was posted late Friday, together with an outline calling it “fairly intense.”
The video begins because the suspect, wearing black, runs towards a deputy’s SUV parked between the suspect and a single-family residence the place a number of different persons are standing within the driveway. An unattended white truck sits in the midst of the road as effectively.
The deputy rounds the rear of the SUV, stands there for a second after which runs again across the automobile because the suspect runs towards him. The deputy then rounds the entrance of the SUV simply because the suspect is transferring away from the rear of the SUV.
The deputy then seems to shoot the suspect, who falls to the bottom as two of the bystanders within the driveway run as much as the deputy — one among them grabbing him. The connection between the bystanders and the suspect is unclear.
The deputy then pushes one of many bystanders again. Two of the bystanders then run to the suspect and lay on prime of him as two different deputies pull as much as the scene.
The deputy who fired then seems to offer an order for the bystanders to get off the suspect and transfer away from him, which they do. The 2 different deputies then strategy the suspect and drag him onto his entrance as what seems like his blood smears the sidewalk. One of many deputies then begins looking the suspect.
On the identical time, the deputy who fired runs into the yard of a neighboring home, the place there’s a cluster of bushes and bushes. As extra deputies arrive on the road, the 2 who had initially pulled the suspect onto his entrance additionally run to the bushes in conjunction with the neighboring home.
It seems from the video that the deputies try to supply support to Calhoun, who’s on the bottom within the bushes. One other sheriff’s SUV then pulls up, nearer to the bushes, and a number of other regulation enforcement officers and maybe one other bystander will be seen carrying Calhoun out of the bushes after which loading him into the backseat of the SUV. The video then ends.
On Saturday, mourners had begun making a makeshift memorial exterior the Lake Elsinore sheriff’s station the place Calhoun was stationed.
“I really feel terrible about it,” stated Corina Marquez, who stated she used to see Calhoun within the mornings, when he’d be getting exercises in earlier than work on the native LA Health health club.
Ron Johnson, a retired deputy sheriff who used to work out of the identical station, stated the taking pictures was a tragic reminder of the sacrifices regulation enforcement officers make answering harmful requires service.
In March of final yr, Calhoun was featured in a KPBS story about his switch from the San Diego Police to the sheriff’s division, which he attributed partially to low morale and an growing workload in a harmful job.
“That’s tough,” he stated within the information story. “That’s not one thing I’d want on anybody.”
Calhoun additionally stated he was glad to be working nearer to residence, with out the lengthy commute to San Diego.
Occasions photographers Raul Roa and Irfan Khan contributed to this report.
