San Diego Police Release Video of Officer Shooting Man with Knife in La Jolla – NBC 7 San Diego

SDPD released excerpts from two 911 calls. The first involved a man who Klat said she believed was Heard herself calling police in distress.

“Right here and now,” the man is heard saying to the switchboard operator before the connection is interrupted.

The second published emergency call came from a woman who said, among other things: “He is blocking traffic. He is standing next to the car with a knife and screaming.”

Witnesses said Heard parked his car on the street and behaved erratically.

Parts of the bodycam footage released by the SDPD on Friday show the two officers conducting the operation drawing their weapons as soon as they arrived at the scene. Both repeatedly order Heard to drop the knife.

A San Diego police officer shot and killed a man who approached police with a knife in the Bird Rock neighborhood of La Jolla.

An officer fired three shots, hitting Heard. Heard was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

San Diego County court records show Heard pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2019. In his court filing, a 2021 letter from a therapist states that Heard maintains “a diagnosis of … paranoid schizophrenia.”

Klat said Heard was loving and generous but struggled with his mental health for years. The 2019 case and several deaths in his family left him feeling like he had lost everything, she said.

Heard attended school in Arizona before returning to San Diego in January and has been living in his car since then, Klat said.

Klat said she has questions about the shooting and wants to release the full body-worn camera footage and full 911 calls to help her figure out what happened before her grandson was killed. She said she has paid for a second autopsy as she continues to search for answers.

As is required for all shootings by San Diego police, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident. The District Attorney’s Office and several other agencies will review the incident to evaluate the officers’ actions.