Police Shot Him for No Reason, Man Says

An El Cajon man said Wednesday he was shot in the back of the neck for no reason after he raised both arms in the air and attempted to surrender to police.

Randall Cary Geiger, 30, said he was hiding under a table in his apartment on South Magnolia Avenue in El Cajon on Tuesday morning when two police officers kicked in the door.

Geiger said he was coming out from under the table with his arms up when one of the officers grabbed him, pinned him to the floor face down, put a gun to his neck and shot him.

El Cajon police initially said Geiger was shot when he refused to surrender, but on Wednesday they revised their version of the incident, saying he was shot accidentally while resisting arrest. They had gone to his home to arrest him for a parole violation.

“I wasn’t resisting in any form at all,” Geiger said in a telephone interview from his bed at UC San Diego Medical Center, where he is listed in stable condition. “The only words that came out of my mouth were, ‘I’m right here,’ and, ‘Why did you shoot me?’ ”

The department has not released the names of the officers involved.

Before kicking in the door, Geiger said, the officers knocked and identified themselves as friends. He said he crawled under the kitchen table when he saw a police car outside.

Geiger said he had not reported to his probation officer in 25 days.

“I had given a dirty urinalysis (drug) test and the (probation officer) wanted me to come in,” he said. “I just kept putting it off.”