ESCONDIDO, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Authorities have identified the officer involved in a police shooting that occurred early Tuesday morning at a reentry facility in Escondido.
- The FOX 5 video above— broadcast on Jan. 27, 2026— details the early stages of the police shooting
According to the San Diego Police Department, Escondido officers were first called to the 100 block of South Elm Street around 2:23 a.m. after reports of a man with a knife who was experiencing a mental health crisis inside the facility. Officers arrived, evacuated the building, and made contact with the man, who was still armed.
Officers attempted to negotiate with the man, identified as as Escondido resident, for about an hour, urging him to surrender. Police say the man later stopped communicating and barricaded himself inside a bathroom. Since the facility was vacant and the man had not threatened anyone other than himself, officers chose to de-escalate and leave the area.
Around 4:20 a.m., officers were called back after the man was seen walking around the property holding a knife and a stick. A K-9 officer who had responded earlier was the first to return and positioned himself in an alley with a less-lethal 40mm launcher while waiting for backup.
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Police say the man then appeared in the alley holding a wooden stick, estimated to be about two feet long. The officer ordered him to drop the stick, but he refused and reportedly charged toward the officer. The officer transitioned to his handgun, yelled commands for the man to stop, and fired several shots, striking him multiple times…