Police Kill Man Toting Air Pistol
A 25-year-old Clairemont area man died Saturday after being shot by a police officer who thought the man was pointing a .45-caliber automatic gun. The weapon turned out to be an air pistol.
Chip Doonan, 25, of 3546 Jemez Drive, was pronounced dead at Sharp Memorial Hospital about one hour after the 10 a.m. shooting, a San Diego County coroner’s spokesman said. The officer involved in the shooting was identified as Ron Fetherly.
Doonan apparently turned out to be in “the wrong place at the wrong time,” Police Sgt. Anne O’Dell said.
Police had been called to a duplex at 3421 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., across an alley from the Jemez Drive address after receiving a report of a woman being abused by her boyfriend, O’Dell said.
While police were at the scene, officers noticed Doonan next to a camper parked on Jemez Drive holding what appeared to be a black metal .45-caliber automatic, she said, adding that police asked him to put it down and Fetherly fired one shot when Doonan continued to point it at the officers.
An investigation is continuing, she said.
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