Authorities on Friday released video of the non-fatal shooting of a man who allegedly charged at San Diego sheriff’s deputies while armed with a five-foot section of metal bed frame.
Footage from the incident, which took place last month in Casa de Oro, was captured by the uniform cameras of two deputies.
The images, posted to YouTube Friday, show Santo Marac, 45, being shot by Deputy Benjamin Blake inside a residence in the 3600 block of South Barcelona Street.
The events that led to the gunfire began shortly before 7:30 p.m. on April 26, when a 911 caller reported that a man he lived with had picked up part of a metal mattress holder and threatened to kill another roommate at their home, according to the San Diego Police Department.
After evacuating three residents from the home, deputies searched it, finding Marac in a bathroom.
The deputies are heard in the video trying to persuade the suspect to drop his makeshift weapon and surrender peaceably. They told him he “was not in trouble” and offered to call in a mental health counselor or a friend or family member to talk to him.
“How can I help you?” a deputy is heard asking, before telling Marac, “You’ve got to drop that frame, OK?”
Marac refused to comply, making “rambling” statements and telling the deputies to fire their guns, according to police.
After about 15 minutes, Blake and another deputy, Stephen McCarthy, moved closer to the bathroom. McCarthy tried to subdue the suspect with an electric stun gun, to no avail, according to the narrative that accompanied the video.
Moments later, the suspect began to run toward the deputies, holding the length of bed frame above his right shoulder. Blake quickly opened fire, discharging three rounds, stopping the suspect.
Paramedics took Marac to a trauma center for treatment of non-life-threatening wounds to his lower body.
He was arraigned in the hospital Monday on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, issuing criminal threats and resisting arrest with violence, according to the video.
The suspect has since been released from medical care and booked into county jail.
Blake has been with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for 18 months and had been a Harbor Police officer prior to joining the county. He remains assigned to administrative duties, standard department practice following deputy-involved shootings.
The SDPD investigates shootings involving personnel with the Sheriff’s department and vice versa per a 2022 agreement. The District Attorney’s Office will review the findings.
– City News Service
