By Caleb Lunetta
The San Diego Union-Tribune
SPRING VALLEY, Calif. — Helicopter and body-worn camera footage released this week show what led up to seven sheriff’s deputies fatally shooting an armed man in Spring Valley earlier this month.
The edited video shows 34-year-old Victor Rendon Jr. ignoring multiple commands from deputies just before he raises what appears to be a semi-automatic handgun in their direction in front of a home on Leland Street near Davenrich Street on Nov. 15.
The edited video released Wednesday contains text from the Sheriff’s Office, images from body-worn cameras and footage captured by overhead helicopters on the afternoon of the shooting.
The video begins with audio of a woman, later identified as Rendon’s ex-girlfriend, reporting in a 911 call that Rendon is in her backyard armed with a gun around 3:15 p.m.
“I need a police officer to my house; they’ve been to my house numerous times,” the woman says. She later adds, “I wasn’t even expecting him to show up … he’s disorientated, and he’s under the influence.”
Rendon’s ex-girlfriend adds that he has mental health issues, she is outside the house and that she doesn’t think he’ll hurt her. But she tells the operator her children are still inside the home.
A camera shows Rendon in the backyard, apparently smoking narcotics with a gun laid on the table next to him.
The video again cuts to audio of deputies confirming over the radio that they’ve arrived on the scene and removed the children safely from the home. Deputies are then shown moving around the side of the house to the backyard to contact Rendon.
Video taken by a body-worn camera on Deputy Darryl Patmon, who was leading the group of deputies, shows them get within a few feet of Rendon with weapons raised.
The gunman is heard firing at least one shot as the deputies approach.
Investigators later said it was not immediately clear in which direction the gunman had fired, but deputies were forced to pull back, officials said. Rendon is then heard firing another shot in the video.
Over the next 30 minutes, the video shows him coming in and out of the home multiple times, pulling the gun from his pocket and waving it around. Deputies, from behind their vehicles parked on the street out front, have their weapons trained on him.
“Victor, can you just come out so we can talk?” Deputy Chalit Caranto, another deputy involved in the shooting, is heard saying in the video. “Don’t do it; don’t point (the gun), man.”
Around 4:55 p.m., Rendon came out of the front door. The video shows him raise what appears to be a semi-automatic handgun toward the deputies, who then opened fire on him.
Investigators said Rendon died before he could be taken to a hospital. It was not immediately clear how many times he was struck by gunfire.
No deputies were injured, but investigators said they believe Rendon fired at least three shots inside the home during the incident.
In addition to Caranto and Patmon, the other law enforcement officers who fired their weapons were identified as patrol deputies Evan Carey, Frank Spinelli, Thomas Cook, Derek Trumbo and Manuel Zamora.
They each have between two and 12 years with the office.
The shooting is being investigated by San Diego police under a countywide protocol designed to keep departments from investigating incidents involving their own officers. Once completed, the case will be reviewed by the county District Attorney’s Office to determine if the deputies bear any criminal liability.
The Sheriff’s Office will conduct an administrative investigation into the deputies’ discharge of their firearms.
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