Man accused of accidentally shooting deputies in an act of vigilante justice

STOCKTON, Calif. (KCRA) – Authorities in California say a man’s attempt at vigilante justice led to him accidentally shooting at law enforcement.

It all happened last Thursday in San Joaquin County.

Officers initially responded to an alarm at the Pick-n-Pull store on Clark Drive in Stockton around 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning.

“There were three subjects running through the yard from the business, and so we set up a perimeter around the business and got our drone up in the air and put our K-9s in there and tried to catch the bad guys that were there. trying to steal things,” described San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow.

As officers took up positions, a man who lives nearby called his grandson and said he saw three men running across his porch.

“So he came with his assault rifle on a golf cart to help his grandfather, who had called him and said there were bad guys in his house,” Withrow explained.

An apparent vigilante accidentally shot at officers in California, the sheriff said.

The sheriff says this was the suspect’s first mistake.

“Neither the grandfather nor he called the police to say, ‘Hey, look.’ There is someone at my grandfather’s house and I am going there to protect my grandfather, ‘out of fear for his safety,’ Withrow added.

The man then encountered who he thought were the Pick-n-Pull suspects, but they were actually deputies.

“Suddenly someone started shooting at them from behind and luckily both officers were near a concrete cylinder wall,” Withrow said.

The suspect fired two shots before those officers could identify themselves.

“Instead of immediately returning fire, they began shouting commands to drop the firearm, which fortunately the subject immediately did so,” the sheriff added.

The suspect was arrested and no one was injured.

“Fortunately, there is no murder or attempted murder at this time. He is charged with assault with a deadly weapon,” Withrow said.