Gunfire Reports Lead to Arrest

A San Diego police officer arrested a 37-year-old man Thursday in a canyon just north of Kearny Mesa after he allegedly fired shots in the direction of California 52, police said.

The incident began at 11:30 a.m. when Officer Curtis E. Jones responded to the 7900 block of Convoy Court where there were reports of gunfire coming from a brush-filled canyon near California 52, San Diego police spokesman Bill Robinson said. Jones was accompanied by Dwight Aguillard, an employee of a nearby company.

It took Jones and Aguillard just a few minutes to locate the gunman, who police identified as Neil John Svanberg. Robinson gave this account:

As Jones approached Svanberg, who was not facing him, he shouted four times, “San Diego police! Drop the gun!”

Jones got within five feet of Svanberg, who said, “Go ahead and kill me.”

Aguillard urged Svanberg to drop his gun and managed to distract him, which gave Jones an opportunity to holster his weapon and lunge at Svanberg, who was then taken into custody.

Svanberg, who had apparently been drinking heavily, had picked up the automatic handgun just an hour before the shooting. He had waited the two weeks required by law, Robinson said.

Svanberg, whose driver’s license said he lives in Mountain View, Calif., but who may be a transient, is being held on suspicion of shooting at a dwelling, carrying a loaded gun and shooting within the city limits.