Police Shoot Gunman With Rubber Bullet : Confrontation: Standoff with SWAT officers ends when non-lethal weapon is used to stun distraught man.

A four-hour standoff between San Diego police and a gunman entrenched in his former girlfriend’s Mira Mesa home ended Friday when a SWAT officer shot the gunman with a rubber bullet, bringing him to his knees but not seriously injuring him, authorities said.

Bill McHugh, 20, was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for a wound to his left ear, and released into police custody, said hospital spokeswoman Edie High.

The Police Department has been under intense criticism this year for shooting to death 12 people, a new record. McHugh was the first suspect to be shot by police with a rubber bullet.

Police received a call saying a gunman had broken into a home in the 8000 block of Chalet Place and threatened to kill everyone inside, said Lt. Mike Blakely, a police spokesman.

The four residents, including McHugh’s former girlfriend and her husband of one month, ran out of the house before police arrived, Blakely said.

McHugh, who ignored a police command to leave the house and surrender, kept SWAT officers at bay with a .22-caliber rifle.

By using rubber bullets, SWAT officers “managed to take into custody a man who was literally asking for us to kill him,” Police Chief Bob Burgreen said during a press conference Friday, in which he outlined a plan to reduce the number of people shot and killed by officers.

According to witnesses, McHugh knocked on the door of the house shortly after 2:45 a.m. and identified himself as a policeman, Blakely said.

John Ingram, who was watching television, refused to open the door, but McHugh crashed through the living-room window, Blakely said.

McHugh stormed through the house searching for his former girlfriend, Amanda Baker, threatening to kill anyone in his way, Blakely said. He also put the barrel of his rifle in his mouth and threatened to kill himself. Amanda Baker’s husband, Ron Baker, and his brother, Rick, also were in the house.

Amanda Baker was able to call police before McHugh confronted her. She dropped the phone, but Ingram, who also lives at the house, picked up an extension and was able to complete the call.

All four were able to escape from the gunman, who refused to surrender to police and demanded to speak to Baker, Blakely said. SWAT officers were summoned to the home, and members from the emergency negotiating team arrived and talked to McHugh for several hours through an open door.

McHugh threatened to start shooting if denied the opportunity of speaking with Baker, and, in fact, fired one shot about 5 a.m., Blakely said.

McHugh paced between the kitchen and the living room, sometimes sitting in a living-room chair and propping his rifle against the wall, Blakely said.

During one of these moments, shortly after 6:30 a.m., a SWAT officer shot McHugh with a rubber bullet striking him in the face next to his left ear, Blakely said. The officer fired the bullet from a 12-gauge shotgun while standing about 20 feet away. McHugh fell out of the chair with his head in his hands and SWAT officers rushed in.

“After he was bandaged, he walked out with the paramedic and sat on the gurney,” he said, adding that McHugh never lost consciousness. “He had a nice broad smile on his face while he was out on the street. After a four-hour siege, I thought it was peculiar.”

Rubber bullets have been used by the SWAT team for several years on an experimental basis, but have never been used in a real situation, Blakely said. The bullets are designed to flatten on impact and stun the victim, rather than penetrate the victim’s body.

“The situation today was a scenario that presented itself where that particular weapon was the best thing to use with the least amount of force and least amount of loss of life.”

Other officers will be receiving training on using rubber bullets as part of the plan outlined by Burgreen.

McHugh, “under normal conditions, would have been shot and killed in all probability by a police officer,” Burgreen said. “That man went to a hospital, got 10 stitches in his head, had a devil of a headache for a while, and is now in jail.

“We would hope in a few instances every year, we can pull off a similar operation without having to kill someone with the use of this type of weapon.”