Bat-Wielding Man Breaking Car Windows in Mission Beach Is Shot, Killed by Police

A San Diego police officer fatally shot and killed a man who was smashing car windows in Mission Beach on Wednesday morning, marking the second time in four days that an officer has slain a man who was wielding a baseball bat.

The victim, identified by police as Walter Andrew Welch, 41, was described by police and witnesses as a former attorney who often displayed strange behavior in the beachfront neighborhood. Welch lived in the 800 block of Ormond Court.

He was shot once in the chest about 10 a.m. after reportedly confronting two officers with a wooden bat and pair of scissors. He died an hour later at Scripps Memorial Hospital.

The officer, identified as 18-year veteran Danny Angotti, was placed on administrative duties pending the outcome of a police investigation into the shooting, at least the 18th time this year that a law-enforcement officer in San Diego County has shot a civilian.

Police Homicide Lt. Gary Learn said that Angotti, 43, and Officer Ken Martin, went to the scene after a complaint that a man was breaking car windows with what was believed to be a hammer.

A police helicopter pinpointed the location, and Angotti and Martin arrived and confronted the man, Learn said.

“The suspect was agitated and was yelling something about his welfare,” Learn said. “The suspect began marching toward Officer Martin at a deliberate pace.”

Martin took a few steps backward, then tripped over a low fence, Learn said. Martin then drew his service revolver and took aim, but did not pull the trigger because bystanders were in the line of fire, Learn said.

The man then turned and started walking toward Angotti.

“When the suspect approached within a distance of 10 feet of Officer Angotti, with the bat raised in one hand and scissors pointed in the other, Officer Angotti fired one time,” Learn said.

On Saturday, a police officer responding to a domestic dispute shot another bat-wielding man in south San Diego.

In that incident, Officer Brad Phelps killed Luis Frank Perez, 28, after Perez approached Phelps in a “threatening manner” with the bat raised, according to police reports.

Phelps and two other officers arrived at Perez’s home, in the 3800 block of Hemlock Avenue, after receiving reports that a man was beating his pregnant wife. Police said that Perez refused to drop the bat despite “numerous” commands to do so.

Police said that Phelps fired only after Perez had approached within 10 feet of him.

Wednesday’s shooting came on the same day that police released the results of an investigation into another shooting in which an officer shot and killed a suspect.

According to a San Diego County district attorney report, dated June 11, Officer Jeff Ziegler is not criminally liable for shooting suspected purse snatcher Jorge Robles last February.

Robles was walking toward Ziegler carrying a stolen handbag in one hand and a .22-caliber automatic handgun in the other hand, according to the district attorney.