Sacramento County deputies shot and killed a 34-year-old man near the intersection of Marconi and Eastern avenues late Sunday morning after responding to reports of a man asleep in a car wash parking lot with a handgun in his lap
SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. —
Sacramento County deputies shot and killed a 34-year-old man near the intersection of Marconi and Eastern avenues late Sunday morning after responding to reports of a man asleep in a car wash parking lot with a handgun in his lap.
Calais Johnson, who was vacuuming her car at the time, recorded the incident and described the moments leading up to the shooting.
“There was a gun, but he wasn’t pointing no gun at no officer. He didn’t know what was going on. He was just sleeping,” Johnson said, adding that the man appeared confused after deputies honked their car horn to wake him.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said the man had allegedly fired his gun at a couple the night before at the same intersection.
“They know he’s armed and trying to get him to just follow simple commands to be able to call him back to them and safely detain him. It’s one of the most dangerous calls that a deputy can deal with,” Sgt. Edward Igoe said.
According to Igoe, deputies repeatedly commanded the man to put his hands up and walk backward toward them. He said the man failed to comply and turned toward deputies while reaching down.
Gunshots and screams followed as three deputies opened fire. The man was taken to a hospital, where he died.
“When the gunshots was being fired, I screamed not because I was scared. It’s because I was shocked,” Johnson said. “I don’t think that man deserved to die like that.”
Johnson said she believes the man was reaching to pull up his pants when he was shot.
“His pants was falling. So, he picked them up like this,” Johnson said. “He wasn’t holding a gun at them. I didn’t see no gun. And I was right next to him and I was telling him… I was trying to save his life. So, it really hurt my feelings when they killed him.”
Deputies recovered a loaded handgun at the scene. The sheriff’s office said whether or not the gun was on the man’s body at the time of the shooting will be part of the investigation.
The three deputies involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol.
The coroner’s office has not yet identified the man. The Sacramento Homeless Union identified him as Ingold Guttenbeil.
The sheriff’s office said he was arrested in June at the same intersection on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly pulling a gun on a man and a woman.
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