A man who allegedly threatened to commit “suicide by cop,” then holed up in a Hillcrest hotel and fired a shotgun in the direction of responding officers, prompting a lengthy police standoff, was behind bars following his arrest early Friday.
Fabian Equihua Quevedo, 22, surrendered shortly after 12:30 a.m., ending an emergency that led to a non-injury officer-involved shooting and shut down a major section of the busy residential-commercial district northwest of Balboa Park for more than 12 hours, according to San Diego police.
The events that led to the disruptive neighborhood ordeal began Wednesday evening, when Quevedo allegedly called a crisis hot line to say he was suicidal and wanted the police to end his life.
It was not immediately clear exactly where in the city Quevedo was, but after members of his family contacted police, officers determined that he was staying at Abpopa Hillcrest, a multi-story “micro loft” building next door to a 7-Eleven store in the 3700 block of Fourth Avenue, said Lt. Shawn Takeuchi.
After arriving at the hotel about midnight and getting no response at Quevedo’s rented third-floor room, officers elected to depart for the time being to avoid the chance of bringing about a violent confrontation by forcing entry.
About 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Quevedo called the police, told a dispatcher he had a gun and said he wanted to use it to make officers shoot him to death, Takeuchi said.
Patrol personnel then returned to the building, where they tried in vain for more than three hours to persuade Quevedo to disarm himself and surrender.
Shortly after 1 p.m., Quevedo allegedly fired at least one shot out a window in the direction of officers, prompting one to return fire. The name of that officer, an eight-year member of the San Diego Police Department, was not immediately released.
Though witnesses told news crews eight to 10 shots had sounded, there were no reports of injuries.
At that point, police evacuated the building along with nearby residences and businesses, cleared pedestrians out of the area and closed surrounding streets in all directions.
SWAT personnel, including snipers, took up positions around the building where Quevedo was hunkered down, and administrators at Florence Elementary School, several blocks away, put the campus on lockdown as a precaution.
Officers and crisis counselors then worked through the afternoon and well into the night to convince the suspect to give himself up without further violence. Following Quevedo’s surrender, the shotgun he allegedly fired at police was found in the room he had rented.
Quevedo was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of assault on law enforcement personnel with a firearm. He was being held on $100,000 bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
— City News Service
