Man accused of shooting at cops disrupts court again
Titus Colbert Jr. is suspected of firing numerous rounds from his ex-girlfriend’s sixth-floor condominium in San Diego on Nov. 4.
While waiting to make a brief court appearance Friday morning, the man accused of shooting at police officers from a top-floor condominium in San Diego’s Bankers Hill neighborhood last week sang loudly in a holding cell.
“We are the Illuminati; we stand for a new world order,” Titus Colbert Jr. sang repeatedly before the judge took his seat on the bench.
San Diego Superior Court Judge David Szumowski warned Colbert, who faces three counts of attempted murder on a peace officer, to be quiet during the proceedings or he would be removed from the courtroom — as he was when he refused to keep quiet during his first court appearance in the case.
A moment later, Colbert began singing again and the judge made good on his promise.
Prompted by a request from Deputy Public Defender Melissa Tralla, the judge then ordered the criminal proceedings in the case to be suspended while Colbert undergoes a psychiatric evaluation, scheduled to take place Dec. 15.
A hearing is set for Jan. 6, when a judge is to determine whether Colbert, 33, of Las Vegas, is mentally competent to stand trial. If so, criminal proceedings will resume. If not, he would be sent to a state mental hospital until his competency is determined to be restored.
Colbert is suspected of firing numerous rounds from his ex-girlfriend’s sixth-floor condominium Nov. 4. The woman had asked police to check whether he was in her home.
Two officers and a police dog came under fire from inside the unit as they approached, and rounds narrowly missed one of them, police said.
Over the next five hours, Colbert fired more rounds, police said. Two officers returned fire. No one was wounded.
Police lobbed tear gas and flash-bang grenades into the condominium through windows, and Colbert surrendered after throwing an SKS-type assault rifle and a handgun out a window into a courtyard below, according to prosecutors.
A search of the condo later turned up another rifle and 17 shell casings from expended rounds.
Littlefield and Repard write for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Dana.littlefield@sduntiontribune.com
Pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com
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