Deputy Wounds Navy Man Holding Fake Weapon

A Navy man, shot when he brandished a toy weapon at two San Diego County sheriff’s deputies, was in stable condition after surgery for an abdominal gunshot wound at the UC San Diego Medical Center.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Hartman said David G. Tollerson, 35, was shot by a deputy outside Brannen’s Place, a Santee bar, about 1 a.m. Saturday after he reached into his car and brought out what deputies thought was a machine gun.

When the deputies attempted to disarm Tollerson, the man grabbed at one of the deputies’ drawn guns and was shot by the other deputy, Hartman said. After the shooting, the deputies discovered that Tollerson had been holding a toy water pistol shaped like a machine gun.

The undercover deputies were identified as Sgt. Gordon Brooke, who fired the shot, and Detective Mike Moreno. The two were acting as backup to another undercover team making an arrest in the parking lot at the bar when Tollerson, a bystander in the arrest, was shot.

An investigation into the shooting is under way, Hartman said.