Authorities on Thursday publicly identified a man fatally shot by a deputy in a rural East County community while allegedly threatening the lawman with a screwdriver.
Simon D. Hubble, 33, died about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the site of the shooting in the Japatul Valley area of Alpine.
The events that led to the gunfire began about an hour earlier, when someone made an emergency call to report that a mentally ill man was behaving in a violent manner at a home in the 3600 block of Emmanuel Way, near Gaskill Peak Road, said sheriff’s Lt. John Maryon.
A witness told responding patrol personnel that Hubble said he intended to take a drug overdose or “attack a deputy with a screwdriver with the intent of provoking a shooting,” Maryon said.
A short time later, Hubble confronted Deputy Aaron Miller near the home. Miller tried in vain to subdue the suspect with an electric stun gun before opening fire with his service gun, the lieutenant said.
A screwdriver was found next to Hubble’s body, according to investigators.
Miller has been a deputy with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for six years.
The shooting remains under investigation.
— City News Service